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Iran’s football federation has a grim outlook on participation in the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the joint US-Israeli attacks against the country entered its fourth day on Tuesday.
The tournament, which hosts the United States, Mexico and Canada later this summer, has scheduled Iran to start its Group G program in June in Los Angeles, California.
But President Donald Trump doesn’t care if Iran decides to pull out of the tournament later this year.
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Mehdi Taremi of Iran celebrates after scoring a goal during the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers Group A match between Iran and Uzbekistan at Azadi Stadium on March 25, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)
“I really don’t care,” Trump told Politico on Tuesday when asked about Iran’s participation in the World Cup. “I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They are running on fumes.”
Iran was the first team to qualify for the World Cup, but FIFA says it will continue to monitor the situation.
“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Iran Football Federation president Mehdi Taj told sports portal Varzesh3 on Sunday. “The American regime has attacked our homeland and this is an incident that will not go unanswered.”
President Donald Trump previously mentioned that athletes, employees and family members would receive a waiver from countries on the banned list to enter the United States for the tournament. But with attacks intensifying in the Middle East, that could change in the run-up to the tournament.
And there is even a chance that these two teams would face each other in a World Cup elimination match if they both finish second in their respective groups. And that game would be played in Dallas.
Iran fans cheer ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC Asian Qualifiers Group A third round match between Qatar and Iran at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar on June 5, 2025. (Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto)
Since the US and Israel attacked on Saturday, Iran has responded by firing missiles and drones at the latter as well as at regional countries that host US allies or military bases, including Bahrain and Qatar.
The attacks killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as other senior officials – Defense Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi and Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Pakpour.
While the men’s team does not know what their World Cup future holds, Iran’s women soccer team made a statement on Monday during the Women’s Asian Cup opener when they refused to sing as their national anthem played over the loudspeakers at the Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.
The players were in their usual line-up before their match against South Korea when the Iranian national anthem began to play. The women, looking straight ahead and barely moving, were stoic as there seemed to be jeers from the crowd. Later, applause erupted from the crowd after South Korea’s 3-0 win.
President Donald Trump looks on as he meets with the White House Task Force on the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on November 17, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
Iran manager Marziyeh Jafari was also seen smiling as she watched her players’ silence from the sidelines.
After Iran’s World Cup opener, they are scheduled to face Belgium in Los Angeles on June 21 and Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
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