Trump unbothered by Iran participation at 2026 World Cup

March 4 – US president Donald Trump has said he doesn’t care whether Iran plays at the 2026 World Cup.

In an interview with Politico, Trump said: “I really don’t care (if Iran participate). I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes.”

Last weekend, the World Cup co-host US, in concert with Israel, went to war with Iran, a World Cup finalist, leading to the death of supreme leader Ali Khamenei. In response, and with the region plunging into dangerous chaos, Iran has retaliated with strikes on a slate of countries, including World Cup finalists Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Iran have been drawn to play Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand in Group G at the World Cup, but their participation is now in doubt. Iran is scheduled to play twice at the SoFi Stadium in LA and at Lumen Field in Seattle.

“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Iran’s FA president Mehdi Taj told the Iranian sports outlet Varzesh3 following the strikes.

Trump’s administration had already banned Iranian nationals from entering the United States as part of a travel ban. However, World Cup teams and supports personnel were exempted from the ban. Last December, the Iranian delegation had several visas applications denied for the World Cup draw in Washington D.C.

On Saturday, on the sidelines of the IFAB meeting, FIFA general secretary Mattias Grafstrom said that FIFA was monitoring the situation.

FIFA’s regulations on replacing a team that withdraws from the finals – articles six and seven of the of the World Cup regulations – are vague but give the world governing body broad discretion to pick a replacement.

Any replacement would most likely come from the AFC region with Iraq, who have still to play in a World Cup qualification playoff, and the United Arab Emirates, who finished third behind Iran in qualifying, considered the most obvious options.

This week FIFA is staging the teams workshop in Atlanta, an operational briefing for the finalists, but Iran are absent.

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