Iranian sports minister Ahmad Donyamali said that Iran cannot participate in the 2026 World Cup after co-host U.S. launched airstrikes alongside Israel, Reuters reported.
“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” the minister told state television, according to Reuters.
The 48-team World Cup will be held in the U.S., Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.
“Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist,” Donyamali said.
“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.”
More than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes began on February 28, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani.
U.S. President Donald Trump earlier told FIFA representatives that Iran is welcome to play in the World Cup tournament in the United States, CBS News reported citing officials.
The Iran war came up in the conversation with the soccer association’s president, Gianni Infantino, and White House FIFA task force executive director Andrew Giuliani in the Oval Office on Tuesday evening, CBS News reported citing sources familiar with the conversation.
Infantino later posted on social media: “We all need an event like the FIFA World Cup to bring people together now more than ever.”
Donyamali’s comments were in response to Infantino’s post.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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