The Iranian government has threatened relatives of players on the country’s World Cup soccer team, in order to ensure players “behave” themselves during the match against the US Tuesday, CNN reported.

Families of the team’s players were reportedly threatened with imprisonment and torture, should their relatives on the team expressed support for the ongoing anti-regime protests, or failed to join in singing their country’s national anthem.

A source involved with security at the World Cup told CNN that relatives of the Iranian team’s players would suffer “violence and torture” if the players failed to comply with the regime’s directives.

The report comes after players on the Iranian national team refused to sing their national anthem at the opening of a match against England on November 21st.

Prior to the incident, Tehran had been using incentives to ensure compliance, offering players “presents and cars” if they behaved as instructed.

This past Friday, following the threats, the team did sing the anthem ahead of a game against Wales.

“There are a large number of Iranian security officers in Qatar collecting information and monitoring the players,” the source cited by CNN claimed.

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• Protests in Iran