Mehdi Taremi @ Olympiacos | 2025-26

[Nokhodi]

This is not our team, this is IRI's team, and they are part of a big propaganda machine. IRI and these players are all part of a big scheme to whitewash all the issues in iran.

Do not even think for a second that Taremi and his likes care about what is happening in iran. All they care about is the car vouchers, gold coins, and a piece of land.

This is different than Ali Karimi who pulled himself out and is vocal of this regime.

None of the players in this team have gheyrat and will throw all of us under the bus if they have too.

let them be exposed and let them be rejected by US so they can see what happens when they pick the wrong side.

It is never too late for Taremi to side with the people.

We will have to respectfully disagree.
I don't view it that way and never have.
They have done plenty for the people, and even if they didn't I don't expect anything of them.

[Afat11]

I think there is a lot to criticize of our TM, but the political targeting of the players themselves is weak in my opinion. Do all of us disagree with our bosses at work to make a stand and get fired for principal if we don't agree? People make these sacrifices every day, we do it in the diaspora in the free west quite often. Iranians are some of the least likely people even in the west to protest against the governments that we live under, even when they do terrible things. We expect others to fight our battles, and TM is another reflection of that. None of us are going back to Iran, sacrificing everything we've built in the west to change things. That is us putting our money where our mouth is, but it's an unbelievable and unreasonable expectation of any of us.

Why then do we expect Alireza Jahanbakhsh to ruin his life, his family's lives potentially, put his life at risk or else he is part of Team Mollah and a vatan forosh. These guys have no other option, and sure, guys like Torabi who are big proponents, we can avoid supporting, but guys who kiss the Quran before a game or take photos with the leaders, I'm fairly certain would act differently in a different political situation in Iran.

Even Karimi and Daei took a whole photoshoot with Ahmadinejad when they were players. They had to or they would lose everything. Karimi ultimately made a big sacrifice, but again, do we want everyone in our country to make the same sacrifice when we aren't doing so? It's literally losing everything and the vast majority of people in Iran can't afford to do this. It's very easy to tell our neighbors to go protest about Obama, Trump, etc. while we watch from the sidelines. Iranians do that a lot here. The only protests we go to are safe ones against enemies thousands of miles away. Until I see more proactive approach from all of us Iranians around the globe, putting the pressure on the citizens in Iran and even going as far to saying it's TM's job to make a change, it's foolish. The team is doing what most people in Iran do, putting their heads down, and making the best of what they can in a difficult situation. A good TM brings happiness to a lot of hopeless Iranians, and we in the west who have so many things to be hopeful for can easily say dismantle TM, I hope they lose, etc. and it makes life in Iran even more pointless for many who have nothing to be happy about.

[Pluto2000]

This is not our team, this is IRI's team, and they are part of a big propaganda machine. IRI and these players are all part of a big scheme to whitewash all the issues in iran.

Do not even think for a second that Taremi and his likes care about what is happening in iran. All they care about is the car vouchers, gold coins, and a piece of land.

This is different than Ali Karimi who pulled himself out and is vocal of this regime.

None of the players in this team have gheyrat and will throw all of us under the bus if they have too.

let them be exposed and let them be rejected by US so they can see what happens when they pick the wrong side.

It is never too late for Taremi to side with the people.

Ah yes Ali Karimi....who famously said nothing and did nothing to criticize anyone until decades after he retired and he lost the election to be on IFF board. He was happily shooting photos with Ahdmadinejad when he was a player though, which I guess doesn't count!

The same Taremi who has constantly donated, paid bail for political prisoners/on execution, and constantly speaks out about the state of our country is an enemy of the people though right?

This anti-TM agenda falls flat when you look below the surface level propaganda posts on twitter/instagram to actually see what they do for their communities and what they have done in the past, and CONTINUE to do.

I always post this thread whenever someone claims these people said nothing during 2022 protests: https://www.reddit.com/r/teammelli/c...ut_on_current/

And that thread doesn't even account for all the things they did after that person stopped compiling and during the world cup when they refused to sing the anthem/bended the knee which the media conveniently ignored to keep the hate up

[FeLFeL]

We don't need celebrities and athletes to take a public stance against the corrupt regime and sacrifice their livelihoods, just don't be an ass kissing puppet for the regime advancing their agenda for the sake of career/position e.g. Dabir, Shamsaiee, et al. We can certainly ask that much of them.

The regime clearly wants to pin us against each other right now and launches smear campaigns against a lot of ppl, specifically the ones who turn them down to do their dirty work. So yes we have to be forgiving and let go of the past. I have no problem with Taremi as of late in that regard, in fact he critizied the powers that be in his post Uzbekistan game interview. And frankly, it's stupid of the US government to give him crap on visa issuance just because he served in the mandatory military draft like everyone else.

[Afat11]

Ah yes Ali Karimi....who famously said nothing and did nothing to criticize anyone until decades after he retired and he lost the election to be on IFF board. He was happily shooting photos with Ahdmadinejad when he was a player though, which I guess doesn't count!

The same Taremi who has constantly donated, paid bail for political prisoners/on execution, and constantly speaks out about the state of our country is an enemy of the people though right?

This anti-TM agenda falls flat when you look below the surface level propaganda posts on twitter/instagram to actually see what they do for their communities and what they have done in the past, and CONTINUE to do.

I always post this thread whenever someone claims these people said nothing during 2022 protests: https://www.reddit.com/r/teammelli/c...ut_on_current/

And that thread doesn't even account for all the things they did after that person stopped compiling and during the world cup when they refused to sing the anthem/bended the knee which the media conveniently ignored to keep the hate up

I see it like a lot of Iranians in the West say... "come on Hassan in Ardabil, go revolt and die already so I can go visit my Ameh." I see this attitude a lot, and it's really not fair. They call it Slacktivism here in the west. We all fee powerless out here to affect any change, so complaining that everyone in Iran should suffer a fate worse than death to accomplish a goal I have no hand in affecting provides a sense of control. We have no control of what is happening in Iran. A lot of people in America do the same, they sit on Instagram and "protest". Really, if we expect Hassan and Ali and our fellow Iroonis in Iran to die like lemmings so we can go back and enjoy an outcome we did nothing to achieve, how will we feel? Are they our martyrs, or less valuable than us because they happen to remain in Iran?

I just say to people who tell me how TM are vatan foroush and people in Iran are weak, then you go back and make a difference. They consider that preposterous to expect them to be inconvenienced in their comfortable life of luxury in the west, but for some reason it's totally reasonable to expect that of others. It only sounds preposterous from our perspective. I say this to a lot of members on this board that have this warped mentality. Look in yourself and know it's an anger at yourself for being powerless in a horrible situation. It's not your fault, but it's also not Mehdi Taremi's fault, or Hassan in Ardabil, or Milad Mohammadi. If the entire TM came out and spoke badly about IR and all got arrested/banned/worse, would anything change? A moral victory for some of us, I guess? Then a new crop of TM players come in under the same circumstance and we put the same expectations on them? It's just a whacked out mentality in my opinion.

[persian-eagle-13]

A good TM brings happiness to a lot of hopeless Iranians,

yes we have seen the full stadiums in iran and the support they have among fans in iran (being sarcastic) Most iranians in iran do not give 2 shits about this team.

[Pluto2000]

yes we have seen the full stadiums in iran and the support they have among fans in iran (being sarcastic) Most iranians in iran do not give 2 shits about this team.

Not this agenda again baba khaste nashodin. Every 3 years people come in here and make this claim. Stadium support is down because nobody has money from inflation in addition to IR systematically destroying mass public gatherings by keeping ticket numbers low + stadiums breaking down. It's why we play all of our games in UAE.

Just watch this video of the reactions and scenes to Jahanbakhsh's penalty just last year against Japan. You had doctors stopping mid surgery break to watch the game. Yes people in Iran are still fanatical about football and will watch/celebrate/support Team Melli in big games if the regime stops trying to destroy the game.

[Hosseini]

This is not our team, this is IRI's team, and they are part of a big propaganda machine. IRI and these players are all part of a big scheme to whitewash all the issues in iran.

Do not even think for a second that Taremi and his likes care about what is happening in iran. All they care about is the car vouchers, gold coins, and a piece of land.

This is different than Ali Karimi who pulled himself out and is vocal of this regime.

None of the players in this team have gheyrat and will throw all of us under the bus if they have too.

let them be exposed and let them be rejected by US so they can see what happens when they pick the wrong side.

It is never too late for Taremi to side with the people.

Why are you even here in the forum then? Leave the fans alone

[Afat11]

Not this agenda again baba khaste nashodin. Every 3 years people come in here and make this claim. Stadium support is down because nobody has money from inflation in addition to IR systematically destroying mass public gatherings by keeping ticket numbers low + stadiums breaking down. It's why we play all of our games in UAE.

Just watch this video of the reactions and scenes to Jahanbakhsh's penalty just last year against Japan. You had doctors stopping mid surgery break to watch the game. Yes people in Iran are still fanatical about football and will watch/celebrate/support Team Melli in big games if the regime stops trying to destroy the game.

It’s schrodinger’s IR. On one hand they do everything to keep the people out of the stadium and prevent TM funding and other ways for our football to advance, but it’s also a propaganda and strong recruiting tool for IR fans. It can’t be both ways.

[webmaster]

Why are you even here in the forum then? Leave the fans alone

Bro you are never here for anyone to leave you alone.

[webmaster]

We will have to respectfully disagree.
I don't view it that way and never have.
They have done plenty for the people, and even if they didn't I don't expect anything of them.

It is great to actually disagree. Otherwise we wouldn't have any discussions.

[Ardalan]

Man TM raa yek donya doost dashtam va yek baazi han az dast nemidadam, hatta yek dostaaneh ba Botswana ya Mogholestan. .
Amma chon omidam baraye azadiye Iran khaamoosh shodeh,
dige hich farghi nemikone natije begiran ya na.
Kaar az Kaar gozashte.

[Essi]

I dont understand so much hype about Taremi's visa issue and his Military service in sepah. Doesn't he already have also an European Passport and that would be no issue for visa right?

[aria32]

I dont understand so much hype about Taremi's visa issue and his Military service in sepah. Doesn't he already have also an European Passport and that would be no issue for visa right?

Yeah it’s media bs for clicks and views. He already has visa from club world cup last year.