The United Arab Emirates has extended an array of unilateral and multilateral measures that ban Iranian oil imports as well as trade and financial transactions with the Islamic republic and freeze Iranian assets to the soccer pitch.

UAE clubs have been ordered to no longer sign Iranian players in a bid to not only force Iran to compromise on its controversial nuclear development program but also to end its four decade-old occupation of three potentially oil-rich islands located near key shipping routes at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran Football Federation (IFF) president Ali Kafashian. There was no immediate UAE response to Mr. Kafashian’s comments in an interview with Iranian news agency ISNA.

Mr. Kafashian said the UAE boycott had led to Dubai-based Al Wasl FC refusing to renew its contract with Iranian midfielder Mohammad Reza Khalatbari. Similarly Al Sharjah FC failed to renew Iman Mobali and Ras al-Khaimah’s Emirates Club has let Pejman Nouri go.

The informal boycott of Iranian players follows the UAE’s cancellation in April of a friendly match against the Islamic republic and the recalling of its ambassador from Tehran.

Football sanctions are unlikely to soften Iran’s rejection of Western demands that it compromise on its nuclear program or UAE calls to return the disputed islands. Nonetheless, the UAE’s focus on the three islands comes at a moment that the Strait of Hormuz is taking center stage in the international community’s tug of war with the Islamic republic.