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GENEVA — The public wrangling between Iran, FIFA and U.S. President Donald Trump over the narrative of playing in the World Cup shifted on Tuesday to Mexico where President Claudia Sheinbaum seemed open to a suggestion by Islamic Republic diplomats that Iran’s games in June be moved to her country.

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

It was already unclear whether such talks were even happening before FIFA said such unprecedented changes in World Cup history were not planned to a match schedule agreed three months ago.

Sheinbaum was asked about it Tuesday during her daily briefing.

“They are discussing with FIFA whether it’s feasible because they were going to hold the [games] in the United States,” she said. “They are looking into whether they can hold [them] in Mexico, and we will inform you when the time comes. Mexico has relations with all countries in the world. We’ll see what FIFA decides and then we’ll announce it.”

In a statement, FIFA said it is “in regular contact with all participating member associations, including [the Islamic Republic of] Iran, to discuss planning for the FIFA World Cup 2026. FIFA is looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on Dec. 6, 2025.”

The Feb. 28 start of U.S. and Israeli bombing of Iran that killed the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior officials immediately cast doubt on the national soccer team going to play at least three World Cup games in the U.S., which is co-hosting the most watched global sports event with Mexico and Canada.

Iran’s soccer federation has not canceled its World Cup entry with FIFA, though official comments have variously suggested the U.S. is unable or unwilling to ensure the delegation’s secure arrival and accommodation.

Since last week, Trump has variously said “I don’t really care” if the Iran team comes, that it was welcome and would be treated like all players as stars, and that the players’ safety was at risk.

In comments posted late Monday on the embassy website, Iran’s Ambassador to Mexico Abolfazl Pasandideh urged FIFA to move the team’s games to Mexico, saying the U.S. was not cooperative on visas.

“We love the Mexican people very much and for us, the best situation is for our games to be held in Mexico,” he was quoted as saying by state-run news agency IRNA.

An Iranian government spokesman and the team itself have said in recent days it is up to FIFA and the U.S. to keep the team safe during the World Cup. The Iran team’s planned training camp is in Tucson.

Pasandideh’s embassy in Mexico City also posted a statement attributed to national soccer federation president Mehdi Taj saying Iran wants to move its group-stage matches out of the U.S.

“When Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America,” the statement said. “We are currently negotiating with FIFA to hold Iran’s matches in the World Cup in Mexico.”

Iran is scheduled to play New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 at SoFi Stadium before finishing group play in Seattle against Egypt on June 26.

Moving the games would be remarkable less than three months before the World Cup and risks being judged a failure in the history of tournament hosting.

It also is not envisaged by Iran’s first opponent.

New Zealand soccer federation chief executive Andrew Pragnell said Monday: “I also don’t foresee it as remotely feasible” to move scheduled games to another country. Tens of thousands of tickets have been sold for Iran games, including to visiting fans who have booked flights to the U.S.

“By trying to move the match schedule, you actually create more problems down the track,” Pragnell told New Zealand media outlet Stuff, adding “I don’t think it’ll happen.”

The Belgian soccer federation declined to comment Tuesday.

Trump said last week that the Iran team was welcome at the World Cup despite the ongoing war in the Middle East but “I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.”

Iran’s mixed signals include Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali telling state TV last week that it was not possible to play “due to the wicked acts they have done against Iran.”

But after Trump’s post the national team said on Instagram that “no one can exclude” it from the tournament and a government spokesman in Tehran stressed it was the responsibility of FIFA and the U.S. as a co-host nation to keep players safe and secure.

“FIFA is the organizer of the World Cup,” Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said. “When warnings are issued at the highest level about the environment being unsafe for Iranian football players, this indicates that the host country apparently lacks the capacity and ability to provide security for such an important sporting event.”

Soccer is followed passionately in Iran, a nation of more than 90 million people which has qualified for seven men’s World Cups and each of the past four editions. The team is ranked No. 20 in the world by FIFA and behind only Japan from Asia.

FIFA has not commented in recent days beyond an Instagram post by president Gianni Infantino last week that he’d received assurances from Trump that Iran was welcome at the tournament.

Dunbar and Pye write for the Associated Press. Amir-Hussein Rajdy in Cairo and Fabiola Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took place amid the escalating Israel-US war on Iran.

A prominent hotel in central Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone was struck by a drone, amid reports that Iraqi air defences intercepted an attack over the United States Embassy.

The strike on Monday evening hit the top floor of Al-Rasheed Hotel, causing damage but no casualties, according to two Iraqi security officials cited by The Associated Press (AP) news agency.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Security sources told the Reuters news agency that two Katyusha rockets had been intercepted that evening near the US Embassy in the Green Zone, which houses diplomatic missions as well as international institutions and government offices.

Earlier Monday, the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah announced that Abu Ali Al-Askari, a prominent security official with the paramilitary group, had been killed, without giving details on the circumstances.

Kataib Hezbollah is one of the largest groups in the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) operating in Iran, which was founded in 2014 to stop lightning advances by ISIL (ISIS).

On the same day, AP reported that six PMF fighters were killed in a strike on a checkpoint in western Iraq’s Anbar province, and two others were killed in a separate strike on the headquarters of a PMF brigade in the same area.

Two Iraqi security officials told AP that the Majnoon oilfield in Iraq’s southern Basra province was targeted by two drones. No casualties were reported, and it was not immediately clear if there was damage to the facilities.

Iraq’s oil industry has been severely impacted by the US and Israel’s war on Iran and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil trading corridor.

Iraqi Minister of Oil Hayan Abdul-Ghani said in a video statement on Monday that a pipeline from the northern city of Kirkuk to Turkiye would be operational within a week, allowing the country to resume its oil exports, which have been interrupted by the ongoing war.

Also on Monday, air defences intercepted and shot down a drone near Erbil airport in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, according to security sources.

A strike on the heavily fortified United States embassy compound in Baghdad caused a fire and damage to the complex. It is the second attack on the embassy since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.

Videos posted by social media users showed smoke rising from the US embassy in Baghdad after a reported attack. Iraqi officials said a helipad at the embassy was hit by a missile.

March 9 (UPI) — Oslo, Norway, police have released images of a person suspected in the bombing outside the U.S. embassy in the city on Sunday.

Two images from surveillance video were released showing a person wearing all black with their face covered and carrying a backpack.

Police said the explosion, which shattered a glass door, was from an improvised device set at the entrance to the building. It caused minor damage and no injuries. Police said there are no developments on the person’s motive.

Police are also looking at a video posted on Google Maps around the time of the explosion. It showed the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the U.S. and Israeli military action on Feb. 28.

Police are asking for anyone with information about the suspect or who noticed anything unusual between midnight and 2 a.m. CET to contact them. They said they have used dogs, drones and helicopters to investigate the scene.

On Sunday, police weren’t sure if the explosion was an attack.

Frode Larsen, head of the joint investigation and intelligence unit, told a press conference that it’s “natural to view this in the context of the current security situation, and that it is a targeted attack against the American embassy. But we have not locked ourselves into just that one hypothesis.”

Police searched the surrounding area, but didn’t find any other explosive devices.

March 8 (UPI) — Norwegian police are investigating whether an early morning explosion that caused minor damage to the U.S. embassy in Oslo was linked to terrorism.

Oslo police said the explosion occurred about 1 a.m. local time at the embassy’s public entrance, causing minor damage but no injuries.

Police said they are working closely with the embassy to determine the cause of the explosion, and who was behind it.

Frode Larsen, head of the joint investigation and intelligence unit, told a news conference it is “natural to view this in the context of the current security situation, and that it is a targeted attack against the American embassy. But we have not locked ourselves into just that one hypothesis.”

Larsen said police are investigating whether the blast was linked to terrorism, but other possibilities are also being probed.

Police conducted a search of the surrounding area, but did not locate any further explosive devices.

Multiple Gulf nations, Arab states, as well as Turkiye and Azerbaijan have been caught in the crosshairs of the war.

Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency has reported that overnight attacks on Bahrain’s capital, Manama, targeted the Financial Harbour Towers commercial complex, the location of the Israeli embassy in the city.

The first week of the United States-Israel war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on nations hosting US forces and assets has engulfed the region and beyond into a broader conflict.

The Reuters news agency reported Friday that an Iranian drone was intercepted and destroyed in the vicinity of the complex.

Multiple Gulf nations, Arab states, as well as Turkiye and Azerbaijan have been caught in the crosshairs of the war.

The Saudi Ministry of Defense on Friday said a cruise missile was intercepted and destroyed to the east of the country’s central al-Kharj governorate. The ministry provided no additional information.

The ministry also said later it had intercepted three drones to the east of the Riyadh region.

Additionally, the Qatari Ministry of Defence announced overnight that its air defence forces successfully intercepted a drone attack targeting the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha that hosts US assets.

Earlier, authorities issued an alert warning that the security threat level had been elevated, requiring people to remain indoors and to stay away from windows and other exposed areas.

Several explosions rang out in Doha on Thursday.

European Union leaders expressed support for Arab countries in the Gulf as Iran continues to launch missile and drone attacks on targets across the region, in response to attacks by the US and Israel.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and other European leaders held talks with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officials on Thursday in Brussels, denouncing what they described as “Iran’s inexcusable attacks against the GCC countries”.

Elsewhere n Friday, air defences shot down several drones in the Jordanian city of Irb, according to an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground.

March 3 (UPI) — Suspected Iranian drones have struck the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said early Tuesday, as the United States orders all non-emergency personnel to evacuate Bahrain and Kuwait amid Tehran’s continued retaliation strikes targeting U.S. assets and Israel.

Two drones struck the embassy, igniting “a limited fire” and causing “minor material damage” to the building, the ministry said in a statement.

The embassy confirmed in a statement that it had been attacked, urging people to avoid the facility. It said the mission was closed on Tuesday, and urged U.S. citizens throughout Saudi Arabia, but especially in the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran, to shelter in place.

The Saudi Defense Ministry later said it had intercepted and destroyed eight drones near Riyadh and Al-Kharj.

Asked what the U.S. response to the attack would be, President Donald Trump told NewsNation, “You’ll find out soon.”

Saudi Arabia is a U.S. ally and home to several American assets, including the U.S. Embassy and Prince Sultan Air Base, as well as other U.S. military facilities.

Since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran early Saturday, the Islamic regime has launched a barrage of missiles and drones targeting Israel as well as U.S. assets throughout the region.

Along with Saudi Arabia, Iran has attacked Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. At least six U.S. service members have been killed so far, all in Kuwait, where three U.S. fighter planes were also downed by Kuwait’s aerial defense weapons system in what is being called friendly fire.

The State Department on Tuesday ordered non-emergency U.S. government personnel and their families to leave Bahrain and Kuwait, according to statements published by their respective embassies.

On Tuesday, the State Department urged Americans throughout the Middle East to leave.

In a 4 p.m. EST statement from Assistant Secretary Mora Namdar, Americans in 14 Middle Eastern countries were told to “DEPART NOW.”