Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Sunday termed the decision of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to dismiss Iran’s hosting rights in World Cup qualifiers as politicized.

Khatibzadeh made the remarks in a meeting with Sports Minister Masoud Soltanifar, President of Football Federation Shahabeddin Azizi Khadem, and President of the National Olympic Committee of Iran Reza Salehi Amiri.

Khatibzadeh pointed out that from the beginning of the incident, Iran has started sports diplomacy.

Iran will try to achieve the best results in this field for football fans, he stated, adding that the officials will use all capacities to back the sport.

After the AFC said that it has selected Bahrain to host the remaining matches of the Group C of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Iran reacted to the decision.