The people sitting in the Foolad Shahr stadium and in the press box in Iran observed ballistic missiles being flown during a match between Sepahan S.C. and Istiklol Dushanbe in the Asian Champions League. Very upsetting events for all spectators in the stadium. Social media users have started sharing images and videos of the rockets, and they don't seem like a pleasant sight to behold.
Israel's renowned air defense systems repelled an onslaught of roughly 200 ballistic missiles fired by Iran late on Tuesday, with some assistance from the United States. According to Tel Aviv, the "majority" of Iranian missiles, including the supersonic ones—were intercepted by Israel and its allies during two waves of firing.
First, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, declared that it had destroyed Israel's Arrow 2 as well as Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missiles interception systems using Fattah hypersonic missiles. From Iranian territory, some 180 ballistic missiles, which included the Ghadr and Emad models, were fired. Ninety percent of the missiles, according to the IRGC, found their objective.
Previous major issues of Sepahan FC in the Asian Champions League
According to Iranian media, the Iranian team Sepahan received a fine and lost 3-0 in the Asian Champions League encounter against Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi squad abruptly cancelled the game, reportedly due to a statue honouring a fallen Iranian general that was left on the sidelines.
Amid worries that the event might further strain a recent thaw involving Saudi Arabia and Iran, longstanding enemies who have backed opposing parties in wars across the Middle East, Iran's foreign ministry had previously announced that a settlement had been made to rerun the match.
However, Iranian media said that Sepahan would have to pay a fine of $200,000 because the Asian Football Confederation had decided that Al Ittihad should have won 3-0. Sepahan was also prohibited from hosting its following three Asian Champions League games at home, according to the reports. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) kept the game marked as "cancelled" on its website on Thursday without making a public announcement regarding the decision.