Iran football federation gives dim World Cup outlook after US-assisted strikes on country

Iran’s football federation isn’t looking at the World Cup in a positive fashion after the United States-assisted strikes conducted by Israel against Iran.

Iran qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in the U.S., Mexico and Canada this summer. Iran is currently set to face New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. to start their Group G play on June 15. 

However, Iranian football federation’s president, Mehdi Taj, gave a dim outlook on the tournament for his country. 

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Players of Iran celebrate after the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers Group A game between Iran and Uzbekistan at Azadi Stadium on March 25, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. Iran’s national football team celebrated after securing qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)

“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Taj told sports portal Varzesh3 on Sunday. 

“The US regime has attacked our homeland, and this is an incident that will not go unanswered.”

Andrew Guiliani, the director of the White House World Cup task force, had this to say about the situation on Saturday. 

“We’ll deal with soccer games tomorrow—tonight, we celebrate their opportunity for freedom,” he wrote on X. 

FIFA also noted it will be monitoring the situation with Iran. 

Iran’s national team also won’t be preparing for the World Cup, as a 40-day mourning period following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is in effect.

If Iran does participate in the World Cup, athletes, officials and family members will be considered an exception to enter the U.S., which President Donald Trump has previously mentioned. Iran is among countries whose citizens cannot enter the U.S. 

Mehdi Taremi of Iran celebrates after scoring a goal during the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers Group A game between Iran and Uzbekistan at Azadi Stadium on March 25, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)

Since the U.S. and Israel strike on Saturday, Iran has responded by firing missiles and drones at the latter as well as at regional countries that host U.S. allies or military bases, including Bahrain and Qatar. 

Fox News Digital learned that Israel’s national gymnastics team suspended all training and team activities amid the counterattack, with The Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) providing a statement announcing the violence has caused “unavoidable disruptions.” 

“The current security situation in our region has resulted in unavoidable disruptions to our regular training schedule and has created significant uncertainty regarding the national teams’ professional plans, particularly as we are at the outset of the international season,” the statement read.

Iran’s players pose for a team picture ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asia zone qualifiers group A football match between Iran and the North Korea at the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran on June 10, 2025. (ATTA KENARE/AFP)

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A source within the team also told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the gymnasts have been moving between bomb shelters since Iran’s counterstrikes began. 

Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis on Sunday as Tehran’s latest missile barrage landed just miles from Jerusalem. The strikes landed in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. 

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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