US watching Iran's World Cup delegation for IRGC links, Rubio says

June 2, 2026 4:30 PM EDT

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on President Donald Trump's FY2027 budget request for the Department of State, to testify, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 2, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie

WASHINGTON, June ‌2 (Reuters) - U.S. ​Secretary ​of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Tuesday that the ‌U.S. would not let Iranians with ⁠ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ‌embed themselves in the ‌country's delegation to take part in the soccer World Cup that begins ​this month.

The Iranian team will play matches in the United ⁠States but will be based in Mexico for the ​tournament.

Despite the war the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran in late ​February, Rubio said Washington ‌had "no problem" with the Iranian soccer team and its support ⁠staff entering the country.

"What we're not going to allow is for them ⁠to embed in their delegation a bunch of ​people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the ‌IRGC or things of that nature, so we were going ‌to watch that very closely," ⁠Rubio said at ‌a House of ​Representatives committee hearing.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Patricia Zengerle and Ryan ‌Jones)



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