The UWW banned an Iranian athlete and the national coach last month after he deliberately threw a match to avoid fighting an Israeli opponent.

Alireza Karimi was suspended for six months and his coach Hamidreza Jamshidi for two years.

It followed claims Karimi had lost the quarter final of his under-86 kilograms freestyle contest at the 2017 Under-23 World Championships in Bydgoszcz on purpose so as to avoid Israel's Uri Kalashnikov in the next round.

The Islamic Republic does not recognise the Jewish state and forbids its sportsmen from competing against Israelis.

Iranian Wrestling Federation (IWF) President Rasoul Khadem resigned from his position in protest at wrestlers being punished because of the county’s policy.

He reportedly claimed that if the Government insist on continuing the policy the blame should not fall upon coaching staff and athletes.

Lalovic expressed his concern at the current situation with UWW competitions set to be held in Iran in coming months, warning the country are negatively impacting themselves by continuing their policy.

"Iran is the stone in our shoe," Lalovic told insidethegames.

"Sometimes it is the case in wrestling and it may happen in other sports.

"We want to prevent it from happening again in the future.

"We do not know exactly what is going on, we have news that the President of the Iranian Federation has resigned.

"I cannot reach him at the moment, but I want to know the facts.

"Especially as we have some competitions soon in Iran and to run them without the President is not very easy.

"I do not know the exact reason why he resigned, but if it is linked to this, it is not good.

"Iranian sport risks a lot if it continues like this, where they do not compete against Israelis."

It is not the first sporting controversy involving Israel and countries with which it has no diplomatic relations.

At the International Judo Federation Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi in October, the country was banned from using its own flag and symbols in the United Arab Emirates city.

Israel also withdrew from the 2015 World Youth Sailing Championships in Malaysia due to a similar row.

The last time an Iranian took on a competitor from Israel in wrestling was at an event in Kyiv in 1983.

With the issue impacting on various International Federations, Lalovic believes their needs to be unity across the Olympic Movement to encourage change.

Lalovic has previously been praised for "putting sport above politics" when UWW granted Kosovo membership.

The official is from Serbia, the nation from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008 following decades of conflict.

Despite Serbia leading a group of nations who oppose the Kosovo’s existence and membership of other international bodies such as the United Nations, there was a lack of opposition to the decision to grant Kosovo Olympic membership in 2014.

Lalovic, who after the vote stated, "sport is autonomous and about the athletes and their ability to take part in sporting events", drew comparisons between this situation and Iran’s opposition to Israel.

He also highlighted how Russian and Ukrainian athletes compete against each other, despite the ongoing conflict between the two neighbouring countries.

"It is really complicated, we need help from other Federations and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)," said Lalovic, the newly installed representative of summer Olympic sports on the IOC Executive Board.

"Iranian authorities have to understand that they are harming not wrestling, but the whole of sport if they do not want their athletes to compete against Israelis.

"It cannot be allowed by international sport authorities.

"The only loser at the end is Iranian athletes.

"The whole sport movement should be united and explain to authorities that this cannot happen anymore.

"I am Serbian, but I also have to protect the interests of Kosovan athletes.

"We have to understand that sport is completely independent from politics.

"Bad relationships between countries should not impact on the athletes.

"We have the same with Ukraine and Russia, we have competitions coming up in both countries.

"But, we have assurances that the athletes will be able to compete without any problems.

"We know it is very difficult in Iran and we try not to interfere in politics, but we do not want politics to interfere with sport."