Abstract

The present study examines relations between Iran and the United States as reflected in the historic athletic encounter between the two in the 1998 World Cup games. It describes how each party viewed the game and the opportunities it offered: did it indeed offer a chance at thawing the relations between Tehran and Washington, as the Americans thought? Or did the match serve as an arena of ‘mimic warfare’, as it was perceived by many Iranians, who saw in it an opportunity to avenge themselves on America and demonstrate their superiority? The second part of the article will discuss the effect which the football match of 1998, and even more so that of 2000, had on the Iranian American community in the United States. It will also examine American attempts to leverage these two encounters to create more athletic meets between the two countries. We begin with a background survey of relations between the two countries.

摘要

本研究探讨了伊朗和美国之间的关系，反映在 1998 年世界杯比赛中两国历史性的体育交锋中。它描述了各方如何看待这场游戏及其提供的机会：它是否确实如美国人所想的那样提供了解冻德黑兰和华盛顿之间关系的机会？还是正如许多伊朗人所认为的那样，这场比赛是一场“模拟战争”的竞技场，他们认为这是向美国报仇并展示自己优势的机会？本文的第二部分将讨论 1998 年、尤其是 2000 年的足球比赛对美国伊朗裔美国人社区的影响。它还将研究美国试图利用这两次比赛在两国之间举办更多的运动会。