Iranian sports minister says nation cannot participate in 2026 World Cup

[p]The attacks killed the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a region-wide conflict.[/p][p][b]"Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate ‌in the World Cup,"[/b] the minister told state television.[/p][p]The 48-team World Cup will be held in the U.S., Mexico and Canada from ‌June 11 to July 19.[/p][p][b]"Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do ‌not exist," [/b]Donyamali said.[/p][p]"Given the malicious actions they have carried out against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/iran/xrRx85iA/"]Iran[/a], 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."[/p][p]More than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since the US and Israeli airstrikes began on February 28, according to Iran's U.N. ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani.[/p][h2]Iran drawn to play in LA and Seattle[/h2][p]Iran are grouped with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/belgium/GbB957na/"]‌Belgium[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/egypt/bejDn7NN/"]Egypt[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/new-zealand/rLctHkpU/"]New Zealand[/a].[/p][p]All three of their Group G matches ⁠are scheduled to take place in the U.S., two ‌in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.[/p][p]Iran, who dominated the Asian qualifying rounds to qualify for the tournament in March ​last year, was the only nation missing from a FIFA planning summit for World Cup participants held last week in Atlanta.[/p][p]There was no immediate comment from the Iranian Football Federation or ​world soccer's governing body FIFA.[/p][p]FIFA regulations state that any team that withdraws from the tournament "no later than 30 days before the first match" will be fined at least 250,000 Swiss francs ($320,800).[/p][p][b]"Disciplinary sanctions may include ⁠the expulsion of the participating member association ​concerned from subsequent FIFA competitions and/or the replacement of the participating member association with another member association,"[/b] FIFA's regulations say.[/p][embed guid="1ecd4d69-4244-4544-9136-989b2a47a1d8" url="https://x.com/TouchlineX/status/2031699309851185509" social-type="twitter" /][p]"The FIFA Council or the relevant committee may decide, in particular, to replace the member association in question with another association."[/p][p]Iran had selected Tucson's sprawling Kino Sports Complex as the team's base camp and 18 months ‌of preparation hang in the balance with a potential economic hit in Arizona.[/p][p]There is also the question of tickets to World Cup games involving Iran. Should Iran boycott the tournament, Iranian fans who bought tickets for eye-watering prices may be tempted to sell them on the huge resale market.[/p][h2]Infantino says Trump welcomes Iran team[/h2][p]Earlier, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he had met US President Donald Trump, who told him he welcomed Iran's participation in the World Cup.[/p][p]Trump had previously said "I really don't care" if Iran participated or not, but Infantino said he had a productive discussion with the president.[/p][p][b]"During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,"[/b] Infantino said.[/p][p]A ‌source in Tehran familiar with the matter said that, as well as Iran's decision not to attend the ​World Cup, warm-up games were not possible because of the war.[/p][p]Earlier this week, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/australia/xSrf6qMM/"]Australia[/a] granted humanitarian ‌visas to five Iranian women soccer players after they sought asylum, fearing persecution on their return home for their refusal to sing the national anthem at a Women's Asian Cup match.[/p][p]Trump had called on Australia to give asylum to members of the Iran women's soccer team.[/p][p]On Wednesday, Australian police helped two more members of the Iranian women's soccer delegation slip their minders to claim asylum, ⁠but one has changed her mind and decided to ⁠go back to Iran, the country's interior ‌minister said.[/p]