Trump: "Italy at the World Cup instead of Iran? I don’t think about it much, let me think"

“I don’t think about it much”. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, This is how he responded at the White House to those who asked him about the possibility that Italy will participate in the next World Cup of football in the USA instead of Iran. “It’s an interesting question. Let me think a little” Trump added.

The US does not want to exclude Iran

The United States does not intend to exclude Iran from this summer’s World Cup. The Secretary of State declared it Marco Rubioafter a U.S. official raised the possibility of reinstating Italy, which failed to qualify for the tournament. “The problem with Iran wouldn’t be their athletes. It would be some of the other people they would like to bring with them,” Rubio told reporters. “If Iranian players decide not to come on their own initiative, it is because they have decided not to come,” he continued.

“What they can’t do is bring into our country a group of terrorists of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps posing as journalists and athletic trainers.” “I don’t know where this rumor comes from; “It’s speculation that Iran might decide not to come and that Italy would take its place,” the Secretary of State added. “We don’t want to penalize the players,” Trump stressed. In mid-March, however, the US president said that the Iranian national team would not be “safe” if they traveled to the United States. Iran is scheduled to play its three Group G matches in Los Angeles against New Zealand (June 16) and Belgium (June 21), and then in Seattle against Egypt (June 27). His training center is expected to be in Tucson, Arizona.

The Iranian embassy: “The USA also fears our players”

The Iranian embassy in Italy has harshly criticized the idea that the United States would exclude Tehran’s national team from the World Cup and make room for Italy. “Football belongs to the people, not to politicians”, reads a post from the representation on social media. “Italy achieved football greatness on the pitch, not thanks to political gains”, he recalls. “The attempt to exclude Iran from the World Cup only shows the ‘moral bankruptcy’ of the United States, which even fears the presence of eleven young Iranians on the pitch”, the post ends.