Iran’s participation at this summer’s World Cup has been thrown into major doubt after joint US-Israel attacks sparked chaos across the region.
Team Melli qualified for this summer’s tournament last 12 months and are scheduled to play three games in Group G against Recent Zealand, Belgium and Egypt, all because of be staged in America.
The fallout from Saturday’s ‘pre-emptive’ military effort, which resulted within the death of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are being felt all around the Middle East.
Iran’s retaliation prompted reports of strikes in several Gulf countries including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Richard Keys was dramatically forced off the air yesterday after explosions where heard near the beIN Sports studio in Qatar.
Graeme Souness, meanwhile, is among the many British residents trapped within the Middle East. The previous Rangers and Liverpool manager posted two videos on Instagram from Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi as he attempted to return to the UK.
‘I’m hearing some pretty loud bangs go off and that’s anti-missiles taking out missiles which were fired at some American bases,’ said Souness within the opening video.
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An update then followed, with the 72-year-old saying: ‘Flight’s been cancelled, still hearing explosions so we’ve given up, we’re just going to envision right into a hotel for a few nights and see where we’re.
‘Hopefully things will quiet down and we’ll get back on the flight.
‘You get grumpy if you get delays and stuff at airports but I feel we should always consider those who perhaps this time are dying.’
Will Iran play on the World Cup?
With instability and political tension within the region more likely to remain for a lot of months, the prospect of Iran competing on the World Cup has been thrown into doubt.
A squad which accommodates the likes of Olympiacos striker Mehdi Taremi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nasr teammate Mehdi Ghayedi, had been slated to play two matches in Los Angeles and one other in Seattle.
A final decision is yet to be taken but a press release issued yesterday intimated that Iran could well pull out and leave one spot up for grabs.
Speaking on Tehran (Iranian public television) Iranian Football Federation president Mehdi Taj said: ‘With what happened today and with that attack by the US, it’s unlikely that we will look ahead to the World Cup, however the sports chiefs are those who must settle on that.’
Who could replace Iran on the World Cup?
Iraq are because of compete in a continental play-off against Bolivia or Suriname later this month with a spot on the World Cup up for grabs.
At this stage, the most certainly scenario, should Iran withdraw, would see Iraq take their place with the United Arab Emirates replacing them within the play-offs.
FIFA is rigorously monitoring the situation and can act accordingly in liaison with the governments of America and fellow World Cup hosts Mexico and Canada.
‘I read the news [about Iran] this morning the identical way you probably did,’ said general secretary Mattias Grafstrom.
‘We had a gathering today and it’s premature to comment intimately, but we are going to monitor developments around all issues all over the world.
‘We had the finals attract Washington through which all teams participated, and our focus is on a secure World Cup with all of the teams participating.
‘We are going to proceed to speak as we at all times do with three [host] governments as we at all times do in any case. Everybody will likely be secure.’
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