Iranian players sang their national anthem ahead of Friday’s World Cup game against Wales after failing to do so before their opener against England.
As the players joined in the anthem on Friday, loud boos could be heard from Iranian supporters in the stadium.
Mass protests in Iran in recent months have been met with fierce repression.
They were prompted by the death in custody in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by vice squad for allegedly breaking strict headgear rules.
A woman in the crowd against Wales had dark red tears painted from her eyes and was holding a football shirt with ‘Mahsa Amini – 22’ printed on it.
Human rights activists said more than 400 protesters were killed and 16,800 others arrested in a crackdown by Iranian security forces.
Iranian leaders say the protests are “riots” orchestrated by the country’s foreign enemies.
Ahead of Friday’s game, Iran striker Mehdi Taremi said the players were “under no pressure” after not singing the anthem against England.
“The fact is that we came here to play football – not just us, but all the players who are present in Qatar came here to play football,” he added.
“I can’t change anything; thousands of other people like me can’t change anything.”
Iran manager Carlos Queiroz, from Portugal, sat next to Taremi at the press conference and said: “It’s your right to ask these questions, but what I feel is strange, as a normal citizen of world is that you don’t’ I don’t ask the same kind of questions of other coaches and other national teams, knowing that they have so many problems at home, and cause so many problems all over the world.”
