US President Donald Trump has told reporters that “I’m OK” with Iran playing in the upcoming football World Cup, which will be held in North America in June and July.
The comments come after FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday said Iran would be present at the tournament and would play in the US.
“If Gianni said it, I’m OK,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“You know what? Let them play.”
Earlier on Thursday, Infantino began his address to delegates at the 76th FIFA congress by reiterating that Iran would play their World Cup games in the US as scheduled.
Iran’s participation at this year’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States has been shrouded in uncertainty since the eruption of the US-Israel war on Iran in February.
“Let me start by the outset, confirming straightaway that of course Iran will be participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026,” Infantino said at the scheduled meeting of football’s power-brokers in Vancouver.
“And of course, Iran will play [in] the United States of America.”
Iranian officials had floated the idea of shifting their group games from the United States to Mexico, but that proposal had already been nixed by Infantino.
Tensions surrounding Iran’s World Cup participation rumbled into the build-up to Thursday’s summit.
Iran’s delegation was the only absentee from the 211-member congress as Thursday’s meeting got under way after a clash with Canadian border officials earlier this week.
Officials from the Iranian football federation (FFIRI) abruptly left Canada after landing in Toronto, abandoning their onward trip to Vancouver.
Iranian media said FFIRI President Mehdi Taj – a former member of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – and two colleagues flew home after being “insulted” by Canadian immigration officers.
Canada, which designated the IRGC a “terrorist organisation” in 2024, said Wednesday that individuals linked to the force were “inadmissible.”
Iran, who are due to be based in Tucson, Arizona, during the World Cup, face New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in Group G.
The Iranians open their World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15.
