THE West Asia crisis is spilling over to the football field. A day after Iranian sports minister said their national football cannot participate at the FIFA World Cup in June-July this year, Donald Trump, the US President, has said they shouldn't 'come for their own life and safety'.
On his Truth Social handle, Trump posted: “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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!." Trump's latest statement had come only a few days after he had seemingly told Gianni Infantino that Iran would be welcome.
The World Cup is getting more and more politicized every passing day. With USA-Israel declaring war on Iran, things have become more complicated over the last few weeks. On Wednesday, Iran's sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, had reportedly told state TV that: “Given that this corrupt government assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup. Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist. Given the malicious actions they have carried out against Iran, they have forced two wars on us over eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people. Therefore, we certainly cannot have such a presence.”
On Tuesday, Infantino, on his Insta handle, had posted: “We also 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."
While the 2026 World Cup is set to be shared between US, Mexico and Canada, Iran are to scheduled to play all three games in the US (two in California and one in Seattle). They are set to face Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand in the group stage. Interestingly, US and Iran will face each other if they finish second in their respective groups.
How will the IOC react?
It needs to be seen how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will reacts especially with the Olympics being hosted in the country in 2028. The IOC had banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing under their flags after Ukraine's invasion in 2022.
It is very rare for a head of state come up with statements like this. There have been instances when the IOC had reacted quite sternly after countries refused to host players from nations due to political differences. India too had suffered in the past. In 2019, immediately after Pulwama, the Indian government refused to give visas to Pakistan shooters for an international shooting event that had doubled up as an Olympic qualifier. The IOC acted to that by stripping the status of that event as an Olympic qualifier. The US have already banned visas for most Iranians with some exceptions for sportspersons.