Shock twist: Asian Confederation says Iran will be at the 2026 World Cup | OneFootball

The Asian Football Confederation states that Iran will play in the 2026 World Cup, despite the Iranian government having suggested they would withdraw from the tournament due to the war in the Middle East (against the United States and Israel).

Windsor John, the general secretary of the entity, stated that, so far, it is not confirmed that the Iranian team will withdraw from the tournament. "They are our members, we want them to play," he expressed at a conference in Kuala Lumpur. He added, "As far as we know, Iran is going to play."

"It is a very emotional time, everyone is saying many things. At the end of the day, it is the Iranian federation that must decide if they play, and until today, the federation has told us they are going to the World Cup," added the official.

This surprising statement from the secretary of the Asian Confederation goes against the declaration of Iran's Minister of Sports. On March 11, Ahmad Doyanmali assured that the team would not participate in the 2026 World Cup due to their war with the United States (one of the hosts) and Israel: "Since this corrupt government has assassinated our leader (Ali Khamenei), there are no conditions for us to participate."

"We have been imposed two wars in eight or nine months and several thousand of our citizens have been killed. Therefore, we have no chance of competing in this way," he added in a conversation with the German Press Agency. Finally, he assured: "If the host country were another, surely the international community would have reacted and withdrawn the hosting rights."

In this context, Donald Trump, President of the United States, assured that "the Iranian team is welcome" and also issued a warning with a threatening tone: "But I really don't think it's appropriate for them to be there, for their own life and safety."

The Iranian association responded with a harsh statement: "The World Cup is a historic international event and its governing body is FIFA, not a person or a country (…). No one can exclude the Iranian team from the World Cup, the only country that could be excluded is one that holds the title of host but lacks the ability to provide security for the participating teams in its global events."

The Lions of Persia had qualified for Group G of the sport's top event, which will begin on June 11, and their three mandatory matches were in the United States. According to their schedule, they were to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and Egypt in Seattle.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.