U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he was “OK” with Iran’s World Cup participation. This came after FIFA President Gianni Infantino said Iran would play in the tournament in the United States.
“If Gianni said it, I’m OK,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Let them play.”
Infantino said Thursday that Iran would be present at the FIFA World Cup. The tournament will be held across North America in June and July.
The comments followed a Tasnim news agency report. The report stated that Iranian football federation officials would not attend the FIFA congress in Canada after what the semi-official outlet described as “inappropriate behaviour of immigration officials” at Toronto airport.
Tasnim said Iranian Football Federation President Mehdi Taj, Secretary General Hedayat Mombeini and Deputy Secretary General Hamed Momeni had arrived with visas for Thursday’s congress. However, they returned on the next available flight. The agency did not provide further details of the airport incident.
Read: Iran FIFA Congress Delegation Leaves Canada
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reuters also said FIFA and the Iranian football federation had been contacted for comment.
Tasnim reported that FIFA officials contacted the Iranian delegation to express regret. The agency also said Infantino would arrange a meeting with them at FIFA headquarters.
