I love the Asian Cup. Such a big continent. So many cultures. So many stories.

Like this one: About how Iranian soccer players have been told not to allow female fans to take “selfies” with them in Australia — or face the consequences.

Apparently, some of the Iran lads, off the leash in a democracy for a month or so, have allowed women to get close enough to snap photos with their smart phones. Or whatever electronic devices these brazen females are carrying.

We are just going to go out on a limb here and guess that the players were not particularly offended by the female fans, down there in Australia. Road trip, and all. What happens in Oz stays in Oz.

But then the head of the Iranian Football Federation’s moral committee (that the soccer federation has a moral committee is scary) found out about the bad behavior of the nation’s players when some of the selfies turned up on social media.

(We will go ahead and cover for Ali Akbar Mohamedzade, head of the IFF moral committee, and pledge our assurance that Ali didn’t see these himself … they were pointed out to him by “a friend”.)

According to the AFP story, which cites the Shahrvand newspaper in Iran, the moral committee is wise to the bad judgment of the players — who yesterday completed group play with a perfect record when they defeated the UAE 1-0.

“If the players don’t respect this, we will be obliged to take action,” Ali said, according to the newspaper in Iran. No specifics were given.

Remember, women are forbidden to attend men’s sports events in Iran. (It’s not just the Saudis who are nuts about this.)

The IFF said the players could be used as “political tools” against the regime.

It was in November than a British-Iranian woman was sentenced to a year in jail for attending a men’s volleyball match — which has been illegal in Iran since 2012. (It’s been illegal for women to attend soccer matches since the mullahs took over the country, in 1979.)

Of course, these laws are in place for the “protection of women”. No telling what sort of bad behavior they might encounter at a volleyball match.

(Somehow, the UAE carries on with the occasional woman at a soccer match. It is not illegal here. Women do not turn in great numbers, but they can go, and usually have their own “family” section.)

And we haven’t even gotten into the topic of inappropriately dressed women attending the Iran matches. Presumably, Iran television not only has to excise pictures of female Iran fans, but also other female fans who might be immodestly dressed. Bare arms, etc.

It is amusing, however, to know that for at least one more game, Iran will play in a stadium where female fans of Iran not only are in attendance in large numbers, some of them are wearing outfits that fail the modesty test.

It must be hard times to be a censor, in Iran. The World Cup in Brazil last summer, and now this. Lots of photo-shopping going on, no doubt.