A match between Iranian soccer club Sepahan and Saudi club Al-Ittihad was canceled on Monday after stadium officials in Isfahan, Iran, placed a bust of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani near the players’ entrance. The bust offended the Saudi side and the match was called off. The World’s Marco Werman spoke with Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar with the Gulf States Institute, about the match’s cancellation and what it tells us about Saudi-Iranian relations in recent months.
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