A day after Iran’s Minister of Sport Ahmad Donyamali said ‘under no circumstances can Iran participate’ at this summer’s FIFA World Cup, President Donald Trump said on Thursday he did not think it would be “appropriate” for the Iranian football team to participate in the event co-hosted by the United States. Trump added ‘for their own life and safety’, the team shouldn’t take part in the tournament while the countries are embroiled in a war.
“The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to the World Cup,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “But I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.” The US is hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
Trump’s message appears to depart somewhat from what he relayed Tuesday at the White House to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who later publicly said that Trump assured him the Iranian players and coaches would be welcome. A White House official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations, had confirmed Trump’s message to Infantino about Iran’s participation, according to Associated Press.
On Thursday, the White House did not immediately clarify what Trump meant by “their own life and safety,” such as whether he anticipated threats against them while in the country after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that began Feb. 28.
Iran are scheduled to play in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 before finishing group play in Seattle against Egypt on June 26.
Since June, Iran has been subject to a travel ban into the U.S. as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. But athletes and coaches from the target nations are exempt, which means the Iranian team would be allowed to enter the U.S.
Headache for FIFA
The statement from Donyamali on Wednesday that Iran could not take part offered the clearest indication yet of the potential for a first withdrawal from football’s showpiece event in the modern era, Reuters reported.
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Donyamali said it would be impossible for Iran to take part after air attacks launched by the US and Israel on February 28 killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering a region-wide conflict that shows no sign of abating.
While it always seemed counter-intuitive that Iran would take part in a World Cup while at war with one of the co-hosts, FIFA was on Tuesday still clearly banking on Team Melli lining up for their first group game against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15.
Only a few hours before Donyamali’s statement, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino trumpeted an assurance from Trump that Iran were “welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States”.
A withdrawal would be governed by Article Six of the World Cup regulations, which, while stipulating a series of financial penalties for such a move, also states that FIFA would be at liberty to call up any nation it chooses to fill the void.
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“There’s no modern precedent for this and, according to FIFA’s own tournament regulations, they have full discretion to do whatever they want in the case of a team withdrawing,” James Kitching, FIFA’s former Director of Football Regulatory, told Reuters.
“That means, for example, a team that withdraws wouldn’t have to be replaced by a team from the same confederation, or even replaced at all. Whether either of those scenarios would be politically tenable is a different question. The tournament regulations also provide disciplinary sanctions for any federation whose team withdraws. However, if Iran withdrew for any reason related to this current conflict, I doubt FIFA would impose any sanctions given the circumstances.”
(With AP & Reuters inputs)
