One is an oppressive regime that guns down its own people, promotes a radical Islamist theology and hangs gay people from cranes. The other is a liberal democracy that protects the rights of minorities, upholds the freedoms of speech and assembly, and grants equality to women and gay people.
Yet when weightlifters from the two countries shook hands after a tournament, it was the oppressive regime that reacted with fury.
Courage is readily found among Iranian sportspeople, as it is found among the Iranian people themselves
I speak, of course, of Iran and Israel. Such is the intensity of the Israelophobia at the heart of the Islamic republic that when its strongman, Mostafa Rajai, clasped the hand of his Israeli counterpart after winning a silver medal at the World Masters Championship in Poland, he was given a lifetime ban from competing.
Rajai extended his hand in defiance of the regime. He knew that his actions would have consequences – potentially more serious ones than a lifetime sporting ban – both for himself and his family.
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