President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that he cannot guarantee the security of Iran's soccer team if it travels to the United States to compete in the World Cup later this year.
"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," he wrote on Truth Social.
Iran is scheduled to play three opening group matches in June in the U.S.: against New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and against Egypt in Seattle.
But Iranian Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali said Wednesday that the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which resulted in the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials, will preclude Iran's participation.
“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” Donyamali said on state television, according to Reuters.
From time to time, war and diplomatic failures have led nations to boycott sporting events they planned to attend. In 1980, the U.S. boycotted the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the then-Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union and many Soviet-aligned Eastern Bloc countries then refused to participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Russia has been banned from the Olympics and World Cup since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But the Olympic Games and the World Cup have long been considered diplomatic opportunities, in addition to international competitions. Trump's insinuation that Iranian soccer players would not be safe in the U.S. is an exceedingly rare break from the global commitment to the safety of athletes since the Palestinian terrorist group Black September slaughtered 11 members of Israel's Olympic team in Munich in 1972.
Trump's admonition to Iran's men's soccer team also contrasts sharply with his offer earlier this week to grant asylum to the Iranian women's soccer team if Australia would not take in members who sought to defect.
