“Brother, that's all I want! God help me.” The athlete's family lives near a nuclear repository

In parallel with the fights and accusations in the Superliga for a place in the play-offs, the world map watches with bated breath how the situation in the Middle East has degenerated. Tehran was bombed by the US and Israel in a large-scale offensive against Iran. In turn, the Iranians attacked Dubai and other targets in the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for the American and Israeli attacks. There is panic in the world!

Tehran was bombed by the US and Israel Photo Imago

Alireza Mousavi on something more serious than the fight in the Romanian Superliga in football: “God help it to be good! Because it is very bad, from bombs to everyday life”

Alireza Mousavi, 35 years old, the giant of 1.95 meters from Cluj University, is disappointed. He tries to mask his fear as much as possible. For over a decade in Romania, Ali, who wrote history with Dinamo, who was also at Steaua, and at CSM Bacău, is the first Iranian handball player to reach the Zimbri League, being a trailblazer for other compatriots who followed in his footsteps.

Currently, he is on the banks of the Someș and trying to move things in Transylvania, even if his thoughts fly to his own. Be in Isfahan, about 300 kilometers from Tehran, the most bombed city in the world this weekend.

“Brother, I can't find mine at all. I talked to them on Friday night, but everything was blocked on Saturday. Absolutely everything. Phone, internet, I have no chance to find out what's wrong with them. Father, mother, sister, relatives, I think there are about a thousand souls in total, because we have a big family, brother, big of everything, they're stuck there, about 300 kilometers from Tehran. And very close, a few kilometers, to a warehouse nuclear, or I don't know what, right there, with us.

You do realize that when a bomb drops over there, they all panic in a way that I can't explain no matter how hard I try?! The children don't sleep since I don't know when, the parents are worried, everything has become terribly expensive, day by day… In addition, you don't know if you can find the bare necessities, it's hard, it's chaos. It's very bad, both with the bombs and with everyday life.

Alireza and part of his family from Iran

Yes, I want freedom for my people, I want democracy, I want life, not war! But first of all, I want to know if I'm fine, if I'm alive, if, if, if… Because that's what it's come to now, to know that I'm fine. I'm in Cluj, it's quiet, but my soul hurts because I'm sitting quietly, and who knows how they'll be…

The war, the bombings, we are talking about bad things that do harm, I pray to Allah that my people will be well. (speaks in Romanian) God help, brother, it's hard for me, I don't care about them, I don't know how they are, I just know that we spoke on Friday and they were very worried. I keep my eyes glued to the TV, the phone, I read the news and I'm very worried,” Alireza Mousavi told Gazeta Sporturilor.

2,600kilometers are by air between Bucharest and Mousavi's native Isfahan

Alireza Mousavi on something we don't know: “You can't imagine the horror when the bombing starts, when the fighter jets fly overhead”

Seyed Alireza Mousavi Ghalehmirz, by his full name, is one of ours, with all the papers in order. He has a Romanian identity card since 2020.

“Romania is my Iran. Romania is my country, that's how I feel, not just because I'm speaking for Romanians now or because I'm giving an interview. I feel like I was born here, I like everything here, I live in a place that makes me always say 'home'”, Ali confessed six years ago, in an interview for Libertatea.

Alireza Mousavi is currently playing at the University of Cluj Personal Instagram photo

Last year, he was on leave at home to see his parents and caught the 12-day war between Israel and Iran live. Isfahan was then the second most bombed Iranian city by Israeli forces. Alireza barely managed to leave there, from a zone of death. Because the attacks left behind grief and suffering.

“I saw the war, the death, with my own eyes. Airplanes, bombings, it looked like a movie, but it was reality. It was terrible, you don't think normally anymore. You can't even call it stress what you're experiencing, it's something tougher, it's something terrible. I'm totally anti-war.

Romania has offered me a lot of good, and I wish with all my heart to offer good in my turn. I wish for peace, for people to live without panic, without fear, and for children to be able to sleep peacefully knowing that they will wake up next to their parents, in peace, when they open their eyes.

You can't even imagine what a horror it is when the bombing starts! Or when fighter jets fly overhead,” the handball player also commented.