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Iran forbids its sports teams from traveling to ‘hostile’ countries

By The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has banned its sports teams from traveling to countries it considers “hostile,” Iranian state TV reported Thursday ahead of Tractor FC’s scheduled soccer game in Saudi Arabia.

The ban announced by Iran’s Ministry of Sports in Tehran didn’t mention the World Cup which starts June 11 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The ministry’s statement singled out the Tractor game against Shabab Al Ahli of Dubai that was set to be played in Saudi Arabia. It’s a playoff game in the Asian Champions League Elite.

“The presence of national and club teams in countries that are considered hostile and are unable to ensure the security of Iranian athletes and team members is prohibited until further notice,” it said.

The Iran war has impacted the region, with nearly every country in the Middle East sustaining damage from missile hits, drone strikes or shrapnel.

Tractor’s playoff game in Saudi Arabia was the result of the Asian Football Confederation’s draw Wednesday to determine the quarterfinal pairings, a day after announcing that the western zone playoffs that were postponed because of the war in the Middle East have been rescheduled for April 13-14 in Jeddah.

The Saudi city is also slated to host the tournament quarterfinals, semifinals and final from April 16-25, with organizers setting the dates and hoping for peace in the region.

The Iranian ministry added that the soccer federation and clubs “will be responsible for notifying the Asian Football Confederation of this matter in order to relocate the games.”

Iran’s stance on the World Cup

The Iranian ambassador in Mexico City has said the country was negotiating with FIFA to move Iran’s three group-stage matches from the United States to Mexico after U.S. President Donald Trump discouraged the team from attending the 48-nation tournament, citing safety concerns.

Last week, however, FIFA President Gianni Infantino further dampened Iran’s attempts to move its World Cup matches, saying global soccer’s governing body wants the tournament “to go ahead as scheduled.”

Iranian government and soccer officials have said they do not want to boycott the World Cup but that it is not possible for the national team to come to the U.S. because of military attacks on the country by Israel and U.S. since Feb. 28.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

By The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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