What the US-Iran peace deal could mean for Iran’s World Cup campaign

The Iranian football team began their World Cup campaign under the shadow of a war with the United States. They soon became collateral damage in the conflict with strict conditions on their visas to the US and other difficulties. Now, as a peace deal emerges between the US and Iran, experts have asked what this could mean for Team Melli – as the Iranian squad is known – in the tournament. Although World Cup hosts have been at war with other nations at the time of tournaments, and Argentina was also in the midst of the Dirty War during the 1978 tournament, there has not been a single case of an organiser being embroiled in a conflict with another participant, as is the case with the US and Iran. Recommended Stories list of 4 items end of list The US and Israel launched a war on Iran in February 28. Although a temporary ceasefire suspended much of the most intense fighting on April 8 and a peace agreement was signed this week, tensions between the two countries remain high and have spilled over into the supposedly apolitical World Cup. This bubble burst in March when US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the Iran squad was welcome to the US but he “[did not] believe it ⁠is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety”. Iran’s football team has been held hostage to the US’s immigration whims right up till the start of the tournament. …