The Iranian men’s national soccer team condemned U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday for his post suggesting the U.S. could not protect their “life and safety” during the World Cup.
The squad’s position in the tournament has been in limbo since the joint attacks by the U.S. and Israel that began on Feb. 28 and killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Subsequent counterattacks by Iran have hit World Cup participants, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Iran is scheduled to play three games on U.S. soil in June, and could face the U.S. in the knockout round.
The team said in a statement posted to their Instagram story that the World Cup is governed by FIFA, “not an individual, [sic] country.”
“Certainly, no one can exclude Iran’s national team from the World Cup; the only country that could be excluded is one that merely carries the title of ‘host’ yet lacks the ability to provide security for the teams participating in this global event,” the team posted.
Earlier Thursday, Trump had posted about the team on his Truth Social platform. “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,” wrote Trump, the inaugural winner of the FIFA Peace Prize.
The back-and-forth comes one day after Iran’s sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, made the first declarative statement about the country’s participation in the tournament. “Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” Donyamali said on state television Wednesday.
Late Tuesday, FIFA president Gianni Infantino posted that he met with Trump to “discuss the status of preparations” for the tournament, and that Trump “reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States.” This was a change of tune from Trump, who told Politico last week “I really don’t care” if Iran plays or not.
The Iranian federation did not attend FIFA planning meetings in Atlanta last weekend. The global governing body has maintained from the beginning of the war that its “focus is to have a safe World Cup with everybody participating.”
Thursday was the first time Trump posted about the Iranian men’s team, but he has posted several times about its women’s team. He urged Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to grant players asylum after an Iranian state TV commenter called the women “wartime traitors” for refusing to sing the national anthem at their first match of the Women’s Asian Cup. “The U.S. will take them if you won’t,” he said in his first post. Seven of the players defected to Australia, while others returned to Iran.
