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Iran plans to boycott the soccer World Cup in protest at President Trump assassinating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, its sports minister announced Wednesday.
“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” Ahmad Donyamali told Iranian state television of the summer tournament being held across the US, Mexico and Canada.
“Our children are not safe, and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist. Given the malicious actions they have carried out against Iran, they have forced two wars on us over eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people,” he added of ongoing attacks by the US.
It is not clear if Iran has formally withdrawn its men’s soccer team from the tournament, which runs from June 11 until July 19, when the final will be played in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
The head of Iran’s soccer federation had already expressed doubts about its participation.
Trump, however, shot back and said he “really doesn’t care” if Iran takes part.
Iran was one of 48 to qualify for the tournament, which is held every four years. Its team was scheduled to play all three of its guaranteed group games in the US.
Its first two group games against New Zealand and Belgium on June 15 and June 21, respectively, are both set to take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Los Angeles County, which is home to the largest Iranian community outside of the Middle East.
The final guaranteed group game is against Egypt in the Lumen Field in Seattle on June 26.
Iran, which breezed through the Asian qualifying rounds to qualify for the tournament in March last year, was the only country missing from soccer governing body FIFA’s planning summit for World Cup participants held in Atlanta last week.
Any country that pulls out of the World Cup “no later than 30 days before the first match” faces a fine of at least $320,800, FIFA regulations state. That is still far off, with the tournament 92 days away.
“Disciplinary sanctions may include the expulsion of the participating member association concerned from subsequent FIFA competitions and/or the replacement of the participating member association with another member association,” the regulations state.
The most likely replacements if Iran does withdraw from the World Cup would be either Iraq or the United Arab Emirates, although both countries have suffered Iranian airstrikes as chaos has taken hold of the Gulf.
Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, has claimed that more than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since the start of US-Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28.
With Post wires.
English (US)