The major football event will be jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States in June and July, and comes amid the recent US-Israel war of aggression against Iran, a participating nation in the competition.
“He (Trump) is not in a position to say whether there is a problem or not. We have been qualified for the World Cup and when you are qualified, it is not a gift to give and take,” President of Iran’s Football Federation Mehdi Taj told reporters on Friday.
He said the Iranian national football team has qualified to participate in the World Cup, and it is its right.
The Iranian football chief made the remarks after the US president told reporters that he is “OK” with Iran playing in the upcoming football World Cup, following comments by FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday, who said Iran would be present at the tournament and would play in the US.
“If Gianni said it, I’m OK,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “You know what? Let them play.”
Iran’s national football team is pressing forward with its 2026 World Cup preparations, with officials naming the team’s convoy “Minab 168” as a tribute to schoolchildren killed in the US-Israeli strikes in Minab, southern Iran.
Iranian football federation’s 2026 World Cup cultural committee met on Tuesday to officially name the Iranian convoy “Minab 168” in memory of the 168 schoolchildren, most of them girls, who were martyred on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli war of aggression.
MNA
