WISCONSIN — While soccer fans across the country were glued to their televisions Tuesday as the U.S. men's national team took down Iran 1-0 to advance in the World Cup, Iranian-Americans hoped the game would put what's actually happening in Iran into the global spotlight.

"Besides the sports aspect of it, I would have liked people to pay more attention to what's happening inside Iran," Ali Soltani, a spokesperson for the Iranian American Community of Wisconsin, said. "I think the Iranian regime is using this to divert the attention from what's internally happening with the people and make them pay attention to the sports aspect of it."

The protests, which Soltani said now qualify as a revolution in Iran, began weeks ago; Soltani said they show no sign of stopping anytime soon.

"It is very accurate to call it a revolution," Soltani said. "It's been going on for more than 70 days now... Right now, about 650 people have been killed, more than 30,000 have been arrested and they're in jail, probably under severe torture."

Watch the full interview above.