Iranian Lifters Are Banned From Competing For Life After Shaking Hands And Taking Photos With Israeli Athletes

Iranian lifter Mostafa afternoone. (Instagram/@mostafa)

JAKARTA - Iran's professional weightlifter has been banned from competing for life by his country, after being caught taking pictures and shaking hands with Israeli athletes during international competitions, according to Iranian government news agencies.

Weightlifting champion Mostafa Rajaee (36) was recorded shaking hands and taking a photo with maximum Svirsky from Israel in the World Master Weightlifting Championships in Poland this week, according to a video published by IRNA on Wednesday.

Rajaee, who won a silver medal in the competition, was banned for life from all matches, because of the actions described by the head of Iran's weightlifting federation as "unacceptable and unforgivable", as reported by CNN Sept. 1.

Not only Rajaee, the chairman of the Iranian contingent in the championship, Hamid Salehinia, was also removed from his position, the Tasnim news agency reported.

In an upload on Instagram after the competition, Rajaee thanked " everyone who helped me all this time" but did not comment on the corner or the ban imposed on him.

It is known that Iran does not recognize Israel as a country and is the arch-enemy in the region. The Tehran government has long banned its athletes from competing with Israeli athletes, despite the risk of sanctions from world sports agencies.

The International Judo Federation banned Iran from competing for four years in 2021, after it was revealed that judoka Saeid Mollaei was ordered to withdraw from the 2019 World Judo Championships to avoid a match against Israel's judoka.

Mollaei, the 81 kilograms defending champion, is on track to meet Sagi Muki from Israel in the final. However, he admitted that he was ordered to step down ahead of the third round and once again before the semifinals. After the championship, Mollaei went to Germany to seek asylum.

Meanwhile, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) told Iran's Chess Federation in 2020 to state its position in competing against Israeli athletes, after repeated cases in which Iranian athletes "rejected to participate in matches with Israelis."

"In some cases, there were even comments received that such games were deliberately ignored for political and ideological reasons," according to FIDE in his letter at the time.