US president says team are welcome to play but advises against it for their “life and safety”
Donald Trump has said Iran’s national football team would be welcome to compete at the 2026 World Cup, which would see them play their games in the US, but then he suggested that it was inappropriate for them to participate.
“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,” Trump said. “Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
What did Trump mean by that?
Iran have already qualified for the tournament taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico this summer and are scheduled to play all three of their Group G matches in the US. If they participate, they will face New Zealand in Inglewood, California, on 15 June, before meeting Belgium on 21 June and Egypt in Seattle on 26 June.
However, uncertainty over the country’s participation has grown following the breakout of a war between Iran on one side and the US and Israel on the other. On Wednesday, the Middle Eastern country’s sports minister Ahmad Donyamali said the country would not and could not be expected to participate in the tournament.
“Given that this corrupt [US] government assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” Donyamali said.
It is difficult to see how the Iranian government would permit their players to travel and play in a tournament hosted in a country against which they are currently at war.
And even if they did, the Iranian women’s team that participated in the Women’s Asian Cup this month were called “wartime traitors” on state television and their safety threatened after they protested by declining to sing their national anthem.
Given the regime’s history of killing footballers, it is too uncertain of a period for them to travel to the US of all places, which is what Trump possibly meant by their “life and safety”.
The World Cup begins on 11 June and continues to 19 July. Iran is under a travel ban by the US but there are exemptions for athletes and coaches competing in major international sporting events. So if their national team wanted to participate in the tournament, they would be permitted to enter the country.
