MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Iranian embassy in Mexico said Tuesday that the country is in talks with FIFA to move Iran’s World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico after President Donald Trump discouraged the team from participating in the tournament, citing security concerns.
It was unclear whether such talks were ongoing at FIFA, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iranian officials have previously said FIFA and the United States have a responsibility to ensure the team’s safety during the World Cup.
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The embassy released a statement from Iranian Football Federation president Mehdi Taji saying Iran wanted to move the group stage to Mexico to ensure the safety of players and officials.
“We will certainly not travel to the United States when Trump makes it clear that he cannot ensure the safety of the Iranian national team,” the statement said. “We are currently negotiating with FIFA to have the Iranian team play World Cup games in Mexico.”
The World Cup is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Iran is scheduled to face New Zealand on June 16 in Inglewood, California, Belgium on June 21 in Inglewood, California, and then complete the group stage against Egypt on June 26 in Seattle.
With less than three months to go before the World Cup starts, the turn of events is unprecedented.
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Trump said last week that Iran’s participation in the World Cup was still welcome despite the ongoing war in the Middle East, but “I really don’t think it would be appropriate for them to participate in the World Cup for their own lives and safety.”
Iran has sent mixed signals about its participation in the World Cup after a U.S. and Israeli attack killed the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of other senior figures.
Sports Minister Ahmed Doyamali told state television last week that the match could not go ahead “because of their evil actions against Iran.”
But after Trump’s post, the national team said on Instagram that “no one can exclude it from the World Cup,” in which a government spokesman in Tehran stressed that FIFA and the United States had a responsibility as co-hosts to ensure the safety of players.
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“FIFA is the organizer of the World Cup,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said. “When warnings are issued at the highest levels about unsafe conditions for Iranian football players, it demonstrates a clear lack of capability and capability on the part of the host country to provide security for such an important sporting event.”
Iran is a country of more than 90 million people who are passionate about football and have qualified for seven men’s World Cups and the past four World Cups. The team ranks 20th in FIFA’s world rankings, second only to Japan in Asia.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in an Instagram post last week that Trump had assured him Iran would be welcome to the World Cup, but FIFA has not commented in recent days.
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
