United States president Donald Trump has given his blessing to Iran competing on his country's soil during this summer’s World Cup, stating: "Let them play."
Trump's comments follow in the wake of FIFA president Gianni Infantino insisting that Iran's national team will play their tournament matches in the US as planned.
Iran's participation has been the subject of uncertainty since the US and Israel launched airstrikes on the Asian nation on 28 February.
The country's football association officials were the only one of FIFA's 211 member nations absent from Thursday's FIFA Congress in Vancouver. It's understood two delegates who had been granted visas by the Canadian authorities to attend chose not to after another member of their group was denied entry in Toronto.
However, Infantino opened his Congress address by insisting the Iranian team would participate at the finals in North America.
"Let me start at the outset by confirming straight away, for those who maybe want to say something else or write something else, that of course Iran will be participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026," the Swiss said, to cheers from the assembled delegates.
"And of course, Iran will play in the United States of America. The reason for that is simple, because we have to unite. We have to bring people together."
Iran will kick off their campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on 15 June. If they and the US finish second in their respective groups, the sides will meet in the last 32.
US president Trump has previously stated it would be "inappropriate" for Iran to compete "for their own life and safety".
However, he has now given his blessing to Iran competing on his country's soil.
Trump was asked about Infantino's comments in a media briefing later on Thursday, and said: "Well if Gianni said it, I’m OK. Did Gianni say it? Gianni Infantino – that’s a piece of work."
Asked what would happen if Iran won, Trump replied: "If they win we’ll have to worry about that. I’m going to have to worry about that one.
"You know what, let them play. Gianni is fantastic, he’s a friend of mine, he talked about it, I said, 'you do whatever you want’.
"You can have them, you don’t have to have them, they probably have a good team. Do they have a good team, do you have any idea?"
Infantino had earlier commented: "There are enough problems around the world. There are enough people who try to divide all over the world. If nobody tries to unite, what will happen to our world? We have to do it, and we have this opportunity."
Meanwhile, Infantino's presidency of FIFA is set to extend to 15 years after he confirmed his intention to stand for re-election.
Infantino celebrated a decade in office in February and, in his closing remarks at the 76th FIFA Congress, he confirmed he would seek re-election at next year’s gathering in Rabat, Morocco through to 2031.
"As you’ve heard, the electoral period for the presidential election at FIFA starts today," the Swiss said.
"I’m honoured and humbled at the same time, and I want to tell you first, the 211 member associations, I want to confirm to you that I will be a candidate for the election of FIFA president next year. "
"As you've heard, the electoral period for the presidential election at FIFA starts today," the Swiss said.
"I’m honoured and humbled at the same time, and I want to tell you first, the 211 member associations, I want to confirm to you that I will be a candidate for the election of FIFA president next year. "
Earlier, he referenced $2.7 billion (€2.3bn) of development funding budgeted for the 2027 to 2030 cycle, an eightfold increase on the level prior to him taking office.
He also said revenue for the current cycle, 2022 to 2026, would be more than $14bn (€11.94bn), ahead of budget.
The majority of that revenue stems from this summer’s World Cup finals. FIFA has faced stiff criticism for the pricing of World Cup tickets, and the decision to adopt a dynamic pricing strategy.
Infantino said: "You’ve heard there were many discussions about the ticketing of the World Cup.
"We had 500 million ticket requests. In the last two World Cups together, we had 50 million ticket requests. Here, 500 million. We sold 100% of the inventory that we put on the market, which is more or less 90% of the global inventory so far. And of course, we are always putting tickets on the market.
"There are expensive tickets, yes, but there are also affordable tickets."
Infantino added that all revenue generated goes back into the game in distributions to member associations, and development of new and existing competitions.
"In a big majority of our countries, we could not have organised football the way we know it without the grants and the revenues and the FIFA Forward programme."
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