{"id":495056,"date":"2026-03-12T18:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=495056"},"modified":"2026-03-12T22:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T22:23:30","slug":"trump-urges-iran-to-quit-world-cup-for-their-own-life-and-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=495056","title":{"rendered":"Trump urges Iran to quit World Cup 'for their own life and safety'"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump said he did not think it would be \u201cappropriate\u201d for the Iranian team to attend this year\u2019s football World Cup<\/a>, co-hosted by the United States, and cited safety concerns as a reason, while the countries remained embroiled in a war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup,\u201d Trump wrote on his social media site, \u201cbut I really don\u2019t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iranian leaders said earlier this week that it\u2019s \u201cnot possible\u201d for the country to participate<\/a> in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

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Trump's message appears to depart somewhat from what the Republican president relayed Tuesday at the White House to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who later publicly said that Trump assured him the Iranian players and coaches would be welcome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A White House official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations, had confirmed Trump\u2019s message to Infantino about Iran\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the White House did not immediately clarify what Trump meant by \u201ctheir own life and safety,\u201d such as whether he anticipated threats against them while in the United States after US and Israeli strikes on Iran that began February 28.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Iran, one of 48 teams in the tournament, is scheduled to play in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 before finishing group play in Seattle against Egypt on June 26.<\/p>\n

The US is hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s football federation has planned to take the team in June to a tournament base camp in Arizona, at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson.<\/p>\n

Since June, Iran has been subject to a travel ban into the US as part of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown. But athletes and coaches from the target nations are exempt, which means the Iranian team would be allowed to enter the US.<\/p>\n

But there are also likely fears from Iranian players about playing in a tournament abroad where they could be feted by an anti-regime diaspora while their families face threats back home.<\/p>\n

\"Fears<\/p>\n

The Iranian women's team, which arrived in Australia to play at its Asian Cup tournament before the US and Israeli bombing attacks on Iran started, did not sing the Iranian national anthem before its first game<\/a>. That was widely interpreted as a gesture of protest or an act of mourning. Several members of the team stayed in Australia on humanitarian visas afterward.<\/p>\n

At the 2022 men\u2019s World Cup, played in Qatar, the Iranian team did not sing the anthem before a game against England and did not celebrate the two goals scored in a 6-2 loss. At that time, Iran was in turmoil several weeks after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for allegedly violating a strict Islamic dress code.<\/p>\n

FIFA\u2019s own evaluation was \u201clow risk\u201d for World Cup safety and security plans proposed by the US, Canada and Mexico football foundations, which are guaranteed by their governments. Trump has often taken credit for \u201cwinning\u201d the World Cup hosting rights in 2018, when the three neighbours easily beat Morocco in a vote by FIFA member federations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cAll parties have experience of hosting major sports events on a regular basis and established arrangements are in place for managing security and safety at stadiums and for high-profile individuals,\u201d FIFA\u2019s in-house inspection team wrote eight years ago.<\/p>\n

Iranian athletes who previously defied the Islamic regime have left the country to continue their careers.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s first female athlete to win an Olympic medal, Kimia Alizadeh, a bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in taekwondo, criticised wearing the mandatory hijab headscarf. She competed for the Olympic refugee team at Tokyo in 2021 and for Bulgaria at the 2024 Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n

Judoka Saeid Mollaei went into hiding in Germany after a dispute with Iranian team officials at the 2019 world championships.<\/p>\n

Mollaei, the defending champion, said he was ordered to lose a bout to avoid a potential gold medal match against an Israeli opponent. He got Mongolian citizenship and took silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump said he did not think it would be \u201cappropriate\u201d for the Iranian team to attend this year\u2019s football World Cup, co-hosted […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":495061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=495056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495068,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495056\/revisions\/495068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/495061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=495056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=495056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=495056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}