Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Iran's national team is welcome to participate at the World Cup this summer, but added that the U.S. may bar anyone in the traveling delegation with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran's participation in the tournament has been a major question since the U.S. and Israel launched an armed conflict against Iran at the end of February.
Though Iran has previously indicated that it may withdraw, this week a government spokeswoman said Team Melli is "fully prepared" to play at the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Rubio said that Iran is welcome but drew a line at the IRGC — which the U.S. government designates as a foreign terrorist organization.
“Nothing from the U.S. has told them they can’t come,” Rubio told reporters on Thursday, April 23.
“The problem with Iran would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people they would want to bring with them, some of whom have ties to the IRGC. We may not be able to let them in, but not the athletes themselves,” Rubio said.
“They can’t bring a bunch of IRGC terrorists into our country and pretend that they are journalists and athletic trainers,” Rubio added.
U.S. President Donald Trump quickly added: “We would not want to affect the athletes."
All three of Iran's World Cup group stage matches are in the United States, with two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
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Trump made it clear that the U.S. would not want to bar Iran players from entering the country, which is consistent with a carve-out in his travel ban.
Iran, Haiti, Ivory Coast and Senegal are all World Cup participants whose citizens are at least partially banned from entering the United States, under the terms of travel bans issued last year.
The bans include an exemption for "any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State."
There is a potential catch, however. Iran has a compulsory military service requirement for all men when they reach the age of 19.
For some players on Iran's national team, including captain Mehdi Taremi, that service included a stint in the IRGC.
In December, the U.S. State Department did not rule out the possibility that Iranian players could see their visas denied.
Iran Football Federation president Mehdi Taj warned that some national team players and staff could be denied U.S. visas for the World Cup due to their military background.
"We must prepare backup options for the World Cup. If, for any reason, a player is told they cannot travel, we must have replacements ready,” Taj said in December.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marco Rubio says Iran can attend 2026 World Cup – with a catch