A tweet by US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley about the Islamic Republic allowing women into the stadium for a football match has drawn criticism by hundreds of Iranians.

Following the national soccer team’s victory against Iraq in a world cup qualifier, Malley congratulated the victory and said on twitterthat “It’s good to see women were allowed to attend the match”.

His post has angered Iranian social media users because he disregarded the fact that the government allowed only a small number of women into the stadium and many were cherry-picked by the authorities.

Malley also ignored the fact that Iran was forced by world soccer body FIFA to allow women into stadiums otherwise it would face global suspension or at least lose its hosting rights.

Many users called on Malley to stop supporting the Islamic Republic, with one political activist sayingthat Malley is either deceived by Iran’s propaganda or wants to deceive the world by echoing it.

Despite the FIFA order to allow women into stadiums without restriction and in numbers determined by demand for tickets, Iran reserved 2,000 seats for women, and they had to sit in segregated areas. There were also reports that a dozen female reporters and journalists were not allowed into the stadium.

Following repeated calls by hardliner politicians and media not to allow women to attend the next match, Iran has announced the Tuesday game against the UAE will have no spectators, mentioning Covid-19 as the reason.