Iran in talks to move World Cup games out of US

Iran is in talks to move its World Cup games out of the U.S. and into Mexico, the Middle East nation’s sports minister said this week.

“When [President Trump] has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America,” Mehdi Taj, president of the Iranian Football Federation wrote Monday in a statement shared on social platform X.

“We are currently negotiating with FIFA to hold Iran’s matches in the World Cup in Mexico,” he added.

Iran, who is currently slated to play two matches in Inglewood, Calif., and one in Seattle from June 15-26.

Trump in recent days has said the Iranian men’s national team is welcome to travel to the U.S. for the competition but acknowledged doing so might not be “appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.”

FIFA will ultimately decide Iran’s World Cup fate, and the federation’s head Gianni Infantino has said he recently spoke with Trump, who he said assured him the Iranian team could travel to the U.S. to play matches if it was safe to do so.

“We all need an event like the FIFA World Cup to bring people together now more than ever,” Infantino said last week.

The back and forth comes as the conflict in Iran stretches into a third week, while the Trump administration has not indicated an end to the military operation could come anytime soon.

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