President of Iran’s soccer federation says World Cup participation in U.S. is in doubt

The president of Iran’s soccer federation says he does not know if the national team can play World Cup matches in the United States following the surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment of his country.

“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Mehdi Taj told sports portal Varzesh3 as Iran traded strikes with Israel as part of a widening war prompted by the bombardment.

The U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran continued for a second day Sunday after the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threw the future of the Islamic Republic into uncertainty and raised the risk of regional instability.

Iran has been drawn in Group G at the World Cup and is scheduled to play in Inglewood, Calif., against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 before finishing the first round against Egypt on June 26 in Seattle.

The Seattle local organizing committee said it was “monitoring” the situation when reached Saturday but didn’t comment further.

The United States is hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

Fans from Iran were already banned from entering the U.S. in the first iteration of the travel ban announced by the Trump administration.

FIFA did not immediately reply to an email from The Associated Press over the current situation regarding Iran’s participation in the World Cup.