Italy’s repechage to World Cup, there's another big problem for Iran

Although the opening match of the World Cup to be held 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.

Meanwhile, Mehdi Taremi and his teammates are preparing for the move to the United States but a new problem has arisen: Donald Trump has banned any Iranian aircraft from landing on U.S. soil and the issue obviously affects Team Melli’s trip.

Interviewed by Hamshahri Online, Iranian Football Federation spokesman and public relations manager Amir Mehdi Alavi said, “We are trying to fly the national team directly from Turkey to the United States. To this end, we have contacted FIFA’s travel office and have also written to Iran Air. The Ministry of Transportation is also assisting the federation in this regard so that we can get permission to land in the United States.”

In the meantime, Donald Trump and Iranian Republic President Masoud Pezeshkian are engaged in peace talks but the climate is still tense. Early Tuesday afternoon Tehran’s army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia issued a very dangerous warning, “If the enemies repeat their hostile acts and take stupid actions by attacking Iran, we will open new fronts against them. Iran cannot be besieged or defeated.”

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.