MEXICO, March 31. /TASS/. The world’s governing body of football, FIFA, will do everything in its power to accommodate the Iranian national team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Tuesday.

"We live in the real world and we know about the extremely difficult situation that the Iranian team is in, but we are working to do everything possible to ensure that they play their matches at the World Cup in the best possible conditions," the FIFA chief said in an interview with Mexican national daily El Financiero.

On March 11, Iranian Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali stated that Iran would skip the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, on March 16, the Secretary General of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Windsor John, announced that the Iranian side hadn't officially refused to participate in the upcoming World Championship.

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 Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. Iran was scheduled to play all of its three group stage matches in the United States.

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.