Marco Rubio Says Iran Team Welcome At World Cup, But With 1 Big Condition | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Thursday Washington had no objections to Iranian gamers taking part within the 2026 FIFA World Cup however he added the gamers won’t be allowed to carry with them individuals with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“Nothing from the U.S. has told them they can’t come,” Rubio advised reporters.

President Donald Trump additionally stated his administration “would not want to affect the athletes” in feedback he made on the White House.

The 2026 soccer World Cup is about to start on June 11 throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Paolo Zampolli, a Trump envoy who has no official reference to the World Cuphad earlier steered that Italy ought to change Iran on the event.

“The problem with Iran would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people they would want to bring with them, some of whom have ties to the IRGC. We may not be able to let them in but not the athletes themselves,” Rubio stated.

“They can’t bring a bunch of IRGC terrorists into our country and pretend that they are journalists and athletic trainers,” Rubio added.

Washington has designated the IRGC as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

Currently there isn’t any suggestion Iran will withdraw or be banned from the event that Italy missed out on.

After the beginning of the Iran conflict, Iran requested that FIFA transfer the workforce’s three group matches from the U.S. to Mexico, which was rejected.

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its personal strikes on Israel and Gulf states with U.S. bases. U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli assaults in Lebanon have killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands. A fragile ceasefire within the Iran conflict started over two weeks in the past.