WASHINGTON, March 12. /TASS/. The United States still welcomes the participation of the Iranian national football team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer, but its attendance has no practical grounds due security threats, US President Donald Trump stated on Thursday.
"The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don't believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety," US President Trump wrote on his Truth Social network account.
Iranian Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali announced on March 11 that the Iranian national football team would skip the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
"Given the fact that their government [the United States] assassinated our supreme leader, we will not participate in the World Championship under the existing circumstances," Donyamali stated in an interview with TV2 television broadcaster.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States between June 11 and July 19. The matches will be staged in 16 cities across the three countries. This will be the first FIFA World Cup featuring 48 teams instead of the previous 32-team format.
The Iranian football team qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and following the Draw was placed in Group G alongside the teams from Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. Iran was scheduled to play all of its three group stage matches in the United States.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced earlier in the week on his page on Instagram (banned in Russia as it’s owned by Meta Corporation, which is designated as an extremist organization in Russia) that he met with US President Trump on March 10 and the US leader already welcomed the participation of the Iranian national football team at the major football championship this summer.
According to Infantino’s statement they spoke spoke "about the current situation in Iran, and the fact that the Iranian team has qualified to participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026."
"During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States," the FIFA chief added.
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key Iranian leaders were killed in the joint US-Israeli attack.
The Assembly of Experts of the Islamic Republic of Iran later announced the election of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the assassinated ayatollah, as the country’s new Supreme Leader.