US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington had no objections to Iranian players participating in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, adding to it, Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that the players will not be allowed to bring with them people with ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
"Nothing from the US has told them that they can't come. The problem with Iran would not be the athletes but some other people they would want to bring, some of whom have ties to the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps)," Rubio told reporters.
“We may not be able to let them in... They decide not to come on their own because they decided not to come, but they can't bring a bunch of IRGC terrorists into our country and pretend that they are journalists and athletic trainers.”
Trump also said his administration "would not want to affect the athletes" in comments he made at the White House.
The comment comes after Paolo Zampolli, a Trump envoy with no official role in the World Cup, had earlier proposed that Italy should take Iran’s place in the tournament. Currently, there is no suggestion that Iran will withdraw or be banned from the tournament that Italy missed out on.
The 2026 soccer World Cup will begin on 11 June across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
After the start of the Iran war, Iran requested that FIFA move the team's three group matches from the US to Mexico, a request the football body rejected.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February. Iran responded with retaliatory strikes on Israel and the Gulf states with US bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions. A fragile ceasefire in the Iran war began over two weeks ago.
