France, March 3 -- Iran's soccer chief Mehdi Taj said he and senior government officials would assess whether the squad should take part in the competition, which begins on 11 June.

"It's not possible to say exactly, but there will certainly be a response," Taj said during a panel discussion on Iran's IRIB Channel 3.

"This will surely be studied by the country's high-ranking sports officials and there will be a decision on what's going to happen. But what we can say now is that due to this attack and its viciousness, it is far from our expectations that we can look at the World Cup with hope."

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