India, May 11 -- Iran's soccer federation said the country "definitely" will participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup and insisted that tournament hosts - the United States, Canada and Mexico - consider Tehran's concerns around the team's travel and how it will be treated.

"All players and technical staff, especially those who served their military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), should be granted visas without problems," Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran president Mehdi Taj said, according to Iranian media.

The team represents a country in a fragile ceasefire with the United States after the US and Israel sparked a war with attacks on Iran on February 28, and whose citizens are subject to a travel ban ...