Shiraz. Ali Kaffashian in a gathering at Shiraz university students, responding to demands and explanation of why Seyed Mehdi Rahmati was not selected for Team Melli, admitted that the goalkeeper has in fact written a letter of apology regretting his action. "Mehdi Rahmati, has admitted his shortcoming and wrote a brief letter to us expressing his regret and apology. I , in the presence of Ayatollahei and Mansourian, gave this letter personally to Queiroz. However , he (Queiroz) did not accept the letter and insisted that Rahamti should have written the apology letter 3 times and in three separate sentences !!!" Kaffashian explained. Rahmati , born in Shiraz , is quite a popular player in Fars province where he started his football career at the Shirazi club Fajr Sepasi. It was from there that he was first selected for Team Melli U-23 before his transfer to Sepahan and then Esteghlal. There has been reports that Ayatollahei , the vice-president of FFIRI who is himself from Shiraz , was severely criticized for his weak character and inability to protect Rahmati against what the local fans deem to be Queiroz vengeance. Carlos Queiroz has recently indicated that he will consider Rahmati for selection right after the World Cup. It is not even certain that Queiroz will be the coach by then , but his rejection of the apology letter seemed to be nothing short of a draconian act.

In the same meeting , the head of FFIRI estimated that between 4000 to 5000 tickets will been sold for all Team Melli fans of which only 1500 were purchased by fans in Iran. Responding to a question on Queiroz's future with Team Melli , Kaffashian said that "currently , Queiroz and his coaching team cost the federation 8 billion Toman (USD 3,130,400  at official rate). For the new contract , Queiroz has demanded twice that value , which is beyond the capability of the FFIRI."  Kaffashian said that out of contract value , Queiroz was personally receiving  USD 1.5. Queiroz new demand is 2 million Euros !"  It is not clear why Kaffashian is mentioning 3 different currencies in his statements , perhaps to confuse the audience!.

The expatriate Iranian footballers have the same right and we are proud of them."

In a question about the insistence of Queiroz in using expatriate Iranians players ,  Kaffashian defended that by saying that "These players are as Iranians as the rest of  us. There are millions of Iranians in the world who are not necessarily residing in Iran. Our industries have used the expertise of many expatriate Iranian scientists to an excellent level , the result of which was a source of pride for the nation. The expatriate Iranian footballers have the same right and we are proud of them."   On the question of maintenance cost of Team Melli , Kaffashian said "Approximately 15 to 20 billion Toman ( USD 7.8 million) was spent on the last 1 and half years on the team. We receive USD 3 to USD million from the AFC , while FIFA will be depositing USD 8 million after the World Cup." On the controversy associated with Team Melli kits, Kaffashian said "In the last six years , we had no official sponsorship from the world major sporting kit manufacturers. All of them feared the consequences of associating with us because of the economical sanctions.  We explored some Chinese and Italian companies, but they were not up to the standard, until we  struck a deal with UHLsport. The German company , is not willing to continue because the non-existence of patent and copyright laws in Iran and its inability to obtain permission to open a representative office in Iran."