March 3 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he did not care whether Iran participated in this summer’s soccer World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“I really don’t care. I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes,” Trump told Politico.
Iran was the only nation missing from a FIFA planning summit for World Cup participants held this week in Atlanta, deepening questions over whether the country’s soccer team will compete on U.S. soil this summer amid an escalating regional war.
Soccer’s world governing body FIFA, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Mehdi Taj, president of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said the viciousness of the attacks by U.S. and Israeli forces did not augur well for the World Cup, to be held from June 11 to July 19.
