Donald Trump has warned the Iran soccer team to stay away from the World Cup – for their ‘own life and safety’ – in a remarkable intervention by the White House.

Iran has qualified for this summer’s soccer showpiece, which is being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Uncertainty over Iran’s presence has swelled since conflict broke out with the US and Israel and on Thursday, Trump spoke out about the issue on Truth Social.

‘The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,’ he wrote. 

‘Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.’

His comments come a day after Iran’s sports minister seemingly confirmed the team would boycott the tournament after US and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and sparked a wave of retaliatory attacks.

Donald Trump has warned Iran to stay away from the World Cup for their ‘own life and safety’

Iran’s sports minister previously said the nation will not compete at this summer’s tournament

Amid escalating conflict, the head of Iran’s football federation, Mehdi Taj, recently stated it is ‘unlikely that we can look forward to the cup.’

Then Iran sports minister Ahmad Donyamal said that there are ‘no conditions under which we can participate’ and there is ‘no possibility’ that they will feature at the tournament. 

‘Since this corrupt government assassinated our leader, we have no conditions under which we can participate in the World Cup,’ Ahmad Donyamal said in a television interview on Wednesday via RTE.

‘In view of the malicious measures taken against Iran, two wars were forced upon us within eight or nine months, and several thousand of our people were killed. Therefore, we definitely have no possibility of participating in this way.’

When asked about Iran’s participation at the World Cup by Politico last week, US President Trump replied: ‘I really don’t care’.