The United States will allow Iran’s national soccer team to participate in the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, but will impose strict limitations on who can accompany the athletes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Thursday.
Speaking to reporters, Rubio clarified that while Iranian players face no restrictions from American officials, individuals connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be barred from entering the country with the team.
“Nothing from the U.S. has told them they can’t come,” Rubio stated during the briefing.
President Donald Trump echoed this position during remarks at the White House, saying his administration “would not want to affect the athletes.”
The global soccer tournament is scheduled to kick off June 11 across venues in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Rubio explained the administration’s concerns center on Iranian officials rather than the sporting competitors themselves.
“The problem with Iran would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people they would want to bring with them, some of whom have ties to the IRGC. We may not be able to let them in but not the athletes themselves,” the Secretary of State said.
He added stronger language regarding potential security risks: “They can’t bring a bunch of IRGC terrorists into our country and pretend that they are journalists and athletic trainers.” The United States has officially classified the IRGC as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
Earlier, Paolo Zampolli, a Trump representative without formal World Cup authority, had proposed replacing Iran with Italy in the tournament.
No current indications suggest Iran plans to withdraw from the competition or faces potential tournament exclusion, despite Italy’s failure to qualify.
Following the outbreak of conflict involving Iran, Iranian officials requested FIFA relocate their three group stage matches from American venues to Mexico, but soccer’s governing body denied this request.
Recent military exchanges began February 28 when the United States and Israel conducted strikes against Iran. Iran retaliated with attacks on Israel and Gulf nations hosting American military installations. The ongoing conflict involving U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran and Israeli actions in Lebanon has resulted in thousands of casualties and millions of displaced civilians. A tentative ceasefire in the Iran conflict began more than two weeks ago.
