Italy’s repechage to the World Cup, the'ultimatum arrives

Trump has given Iran an ultimatum to finalize a nuclear deal in the coming days that would end the conflict. “I say two or three days. Maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Or maybe early next week. A limited period,” he told reporters.

In the meantime, the U.S. strike against Tehran scheduled for today has been suspended. The decision, announced by Trump himself, would come at the request of Gulf allies to facilitate ongoing talks. The U.S. president warned, however, that he was ready to order “a full-scale assault” against Tehran at any time if an understanding deemed acceptable was not reached.

His statements come after the rejection of the new 14-point proposal submitted by the Iranian regime, deemed “insufficient” by the White House. At the same time, the U.S. granted a new 30-day extension on Russian oil imports.

On the regional security front, the United Arab Emirates reported intercepting six drones headed toward “civilian and vital areas of the country” in the past 48 hours. According to the Emirati Defense Ministry, the attacks reportedly originated from Iraqi territory and caused no casualties or major damage to infrastructure.

Although the inaugural World Cup match between the United States, Mexico and Canada is less than a month away, Iran’s participation is still in doubt. The reason lies in the extremely high tension between Tehran and Washington following the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in late February.

According to Article 6.7 of the FIFA regulations, if a participating football association withdraws and/or is excluded from the World Cup, FIFA will decide on the matter at its sole discretion and take whatever measures it deems necessary. FIFA may decide to replace the association in question with another federation, perhaps the one from Italy since it has the highest ranking among the teams not qualified for the World Cup.