President Trump said on Thursday that the Iranian national soccer team is welcome to the United States for the World Cup. However, Trump said he didn’t think it was “appropriate” for them to be there. “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 said. TRUMP: 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. pic.twitter.com/zH79liTuQb — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 12, 2026 ESPN shared further: Iran, one of 48 teams in the tournament, is scheduled to play in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 before finishing group play in Seattle against Egypt on June 26. On Wednesday, the Iranian sports minister said that Iran cannot participate in the 2026 World Cup following airstrikes against the country by the United States and Israel. “Given that this corrupt government assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” Ahmad Donyamali reportedly told Iranian state television. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first day of attacks. He has since been succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei. “What has happened in the past few months shows that the conditions for our national football team to participate in the World Cup do not exist and this team will not participate in the upcoming event,” Donyamali said, according to Good Morning America. Iran will not participate in the World Cup this summer amid the ongoing U.S. and Israeli-led strikes on the nation, the country's sports minister said Wednesday. https://t.co/Cnv8ygejNF — ABC News (@ABC) March 11, 2026 Good Morning America has more: The United States is co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico, with matches being played across all three North American nations. President Donald Trump met with FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Tuesday and told him that the Iranian soccer team is welcome to participate at this year’s World Cup, a White House official and a source familiar with the conversation told ABC News. Sources described it as a “long” meeting that included the White House’s World Cup task force executive director Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City mayor and former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The Iranian women’s soccer team has also faced uncertainty due to the ongoing war. Seven members of the Iranian women’s national soccer team were granted asylum in Australia this week, as international concern grew around the fate of the team, who had been playing in a tournament there when the U.S. war with Iran started. The team had faced criticism from Iranian state media after some of its players refused to sing along with their country’s national anthem ahead of their March 2 match against South Korea.