Trump Suggests Iran Football Team Skip World Cup 'For Their Own Life And Safety'

President Donald Trump extended a somewhat two-faced invitation to Iran’s national football team on Thursday to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 

Trump said the team is welcome to join the tournament, but he seemed to caution against doing so, nearly two weeks after the United States and Israel attacked Iran. 

“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,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Trump’s comments came just a day after Iran’s sports minister said the team would be barred from participating in the tournament due to the ongoing war and the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” the minister told state television on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

The team has participated in six World Cups, most recently in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where it finished third in Group B behind the U.S. and England. The team’s first World Cup appearance came in 1978, as the Islamic Revolution was underway.

The sports minister’s assertion and Trump’s subsequent invitation come just days after seven members of Iran’s national women’s soccer team were granted humanitarian visas in Australia after the team traveled to the Women’s Asian Cup prior to the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, CNN reported earlier this week.

The members granted visas included six players and one member of the team’s support staff, who chose not to return to their home country for fear of persecution. The rest of the team departed Sydney on Tuesday, Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed to CNN.