The graphic shared by the United States Soccer Federation without the Allah symbol ©USSF

The Iranian Football Federation has demanded FIFA give the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) a serious warning over the doctoring of the national flag on its social media channels, prior to the two nations meeting in the FIFA World Cup group stages in Qatar.

United States, who are in a group with Iran, England and Wales, posted a graphic of the standings after the second round of matches - notably without the red symbol in the middle of the Iranian flag, which represents Allah.

"In an unprofessional act, the Instagram page of the US Football Federation removed the Allah symbol from the Iranian flag," said Iranian state news agency IRNA.

"The Iran Football Federation sent an email to FIFA to demand it issue a serious warning to the US Federation."

Another Iranian news agency, Tasnim, said the team "breached the FIFA charter, for which a 10-game suspension is the appropriate penalty", adding that the national team should be kicked out of the FIFA World Cup.

It comes before the two countries play in the final round of Group B tomorrow, with both still vying for qualification.

The USSF said it chose to remove the symbol on social media accounts yesterday in solidarity with the "women in Iran fighting for basic human rights", following the death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody, related to the wearing of the hijab.

"We wanted to show our support for the women in Iran with out graphic for 24 hours," said the USSF.

Since then, people in Iran have protested in favour of better rights for women.

Women's rights protests and riots have been going on in Iran over the past few months ©Getty Images
Women's rights protests and riots have been going on in Iran over the past few months ©Getty Images

Iran's current leadership rules the country under Islamic fundamentalism, but the country was previously secular prior to the revolution in 1978 and 1979.

The USSF used the green, white and red flag without the Allah script on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook; but later in the day the Iranian flag had been restored.

It comes after former US national team coach and German football great Jurgen Klinsmann accused Iranian players of having cheating in the culture of their football when acting as a pundit on British television.

Diplomatic ties between them were cut in 1980, with the US since imposing economic sanctions on Iran.

The United Nations claim more than 300 people have been killed in Iran since protests started in September, with approximately 14,000 people being arrested.

Iran and United States played each other at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France in what was called the "mother of all games".

Iran won the match 2-1.

Before the match, Iranian players gave white roses to their opponents as a symbol of peace.