Rubio denies US trying to exclude Iran players from football World Cup

Published April 24, 2026 Updated April 24, 2026 03:05am

The United States will not exclude Iran from the football World Cup tournament it is hosting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, reports AFP.

“The problem with Iran, it would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people that we want to bring with them,” Rubio told reporters, denying Washington had asked the Iranian team not to come.

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