Thousands of Syrian refugees flee Lebanon after Israeli strikes
NewsFeed Thousands of Syrian refugees are fleeing Israeli strikes across Lebanon and trying to return to Syria. Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto is at the border, where there are growing fears of a humanitarian crisis. Published On 6 Mar 20266 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Israel extending ‘Gaza playbook’ to Lebanon, charity warns
Medical Aid for Palestinians accuses Israel of ‘deliberately terrorising civilian populations’ across Lebanon. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 6 Mar 20266 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Israel is exporting its “Gaza playbook” to Lebanon, a nonprofit group has warned, as the Israeli military continues to attack the country after ordering the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said on Friday that Israel’s bombings and forced displacement orders for all of southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, “are instilling widespread fear among civilians”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “What we are witnessing in Lebanon is the unmistakable extension of the Israeli military playbook used in Gaza,” said Steve Cutts, CEO of the UK-based charity. That includes “collective punishment, forced displacement, and the deliberate terrorising of civilian populations, including already traumatised Palestinian communities,” Cutts said in a statement. The Israeli military issued a forced displacement order on Wednesday for all of southern Lebanon, prompting tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes and communities under threat of attack. A day later, it issued a similar order for the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, as Israel expanded its intensified air and ground offensive in the country. Intensified fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed on Monday after the Lebanese group launched rockets towards Israeli territory following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran. At least 217 people have been killed and 798 others wounded in Israeli attacks across Lebanon since Monday, according to the latest figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Advertisement Human rights groups have raised the alarm over the Israeli forced displacement orders, stressing that many families have nowhere to go as Lebanon’s shelters are full. “We’ve seen people sleeping on the street, sleeping on the Corniche [in Beirut], sleeping in schools that have been converted into reception centres,” Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith reported from the Lebanese capital on Friday. “People want to know how long they’re going to have to do this, [how long they’ll have] to be away from home, and the authorities have not been able to tell them.” The Israeli military has routinely issued similar orders in its genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to move multiple times throughout Israel’s more than two-year bombardment of the enclave. In September last year, the Israeli army issued a forced displacement order for the entirety of Gaza City, prompting international condemnation. “The order … is cruel, unlawful, and further compounds the genocidal conditions of life that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians,” Human Rights Watch said at the time. Israeli leaders have also compared the country’s escalating offensive in Lebanon this week with its war on Gaza. On Thursday, after the forced evacuation order was issued for the southern suburbs of Beirut, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel planned to make the Dahiyeh area “like Khan Younis”. A city in southern Gaza, Khan Younis – like most of the Strip – has been decimated in Israel’s war. Adblock test (Why?)
In a bid to counter China, Trump hosts a summit for Latin America leaders
Over the past two decades, China has quietly eclipsed the United States as the dominant trading partner in parts of Latin America. But since taking office for a second term, United States President Donald Trump has pushed to reverse Beijing’s advance. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list That includes through aggressive manoeuvres directed at China’s allies in the region. Already, the Trump administration has stripped officials in Costa Rica, Panama and Chile of their US visas, reportedly due to their ties to China. It has also threatened to take back the Panama Canal over allegations that Chinese operatives are running the waterway. And after invading Venezuela and abducting President Nicolas Maduro, the US forced the country to halt oil exports to China. But on Saturday, Trump is taking a different approach, welcoming Latin American leaders to his Mar-a-Lago estate for an event dubbed the “Shield of the Americas” summit. How he plans to persuade leaders to distance themselves from one of the region’s largest economic partners remains unclear. But experts say the high-level meeting could signal that Washington is prepared to put concrete offers on the table. Securing meaningful commitments from Latin American leaders will take more than a photo op and vague promises, according to Francisco Urdinez, an expert on regional relations with China at Chile’s Pontifical Catholic University. Even among Trump’s allies, Urdinez believes significant economic incentives are required. “What they’re really hoping is that Washington backs up the political alignment with tangible economic benefits,” he said. Advertisement ‘Reinforcing the Donroe Doctrine’ Already, the White House has confirmed that nearly a dozen countries will be represented at the weekend summit. They include conservative leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago. Mexico and Brazil, the region’s largest economies, have been notably left out. Both are currently led by left-leaning governments. In a post on social media, the Trump administration framed the event as a “historic meeting reinforcing the Donroe Doctrine”, the president’s plan for establishing US dominance over the Western Hemisphere. Part of that strategy involves assembling a coalition of ideological allies in the region. But rolling back Chinese influence in a region increasingly reliant on its economy will not be an easy feat, according to Gimena Sanchez, the Andes director at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a US-based research and advocacy group. The US “is trying to get countries to agree that they’re not going to have China be one of their primary trading partners, and they really can’t at this point”, Sanchez said. “For most countries, China is either their top, second or third trading partner.” China, after all, has the second-largest economy in the world, and it has invested heavily in Latin America, including through infrastructure projects and massive loans. The Asian giant has emerged as the top trading partner in South America in particular, with bilateral trade reaching $518bn in 2024, a record high for Beijing. The US, however, remains the biggest outside trade force in Latin America and the Caribbean overall, due in large part to close relations with its neighbour, Mexico. As of 2024, US imports from Latin America jumped to $661bn, and its exports were valued at $517bn. Rather than choosing sides, though, many countries in the region are trying to strike a balance between the two powers, Sanchez explained. Still, she added that the US cannot come empty-handed to this weekend’s negotiations. “If the US is very boldly telling countries to cut off strengthening ties with China”, Sanchez emphasised that “the US is going to have to offer them something.” What’s on the table? Trump has already extended economic lifelines to Latin American governments politically aligned with his own. In the case of Argentina, for instance, Trump announced in October a $20bn currency swap, meant to increase the value of the country’s peso. He also increased the volume of Argentinian beef permitted to be imported into the US, shoring up the country’s agricultural sector, despite pushback from US cattle farmers. Advertisement Trump has largely tied those economic incentives to the continued leadership of political movements favourable to his own. The $20bn swap, for instance, came ahead of a key election for Argentinian President Javier Milei’s right-wing party, which Trump supports. Isolating China from resources in Latin America could also play to Trump’s advantage as he angles for better trade terms with Beijing. A show of hemispheric solidarity could give Trump extra leverage as he travels to Beijing in early April to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Urdinez pointed out. Then there’s the regional security angle. The US has expressed particular concern about China’s control of strategic infrastructure in Latin America and the critical minerals it could exploit in the region to bolster its defence and technology capabilities. Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, for instance, are believed to hold the world’s largest deposits of lithium, a metal necessary for energy storage and rechargeable batteries. The Trump administration referenced such threats in its national security strategy, published in December. “Some foreign influence will be hard to reverse,” the strategy document said, blaming the “political alignments between certain Latin American governments and certain foreign actors”. But Trump’s security platform nevertheless asserted that Latin American leaders were actively seeking alternatives to China. “Many governments are not ideologically aligned with foreign powers but are instead attracted to doing business with them for other reasons, including low costs and fewer regulatory hurdles,” the document said. It argued that the US could combat Chinese influence by highlighting the “hidden costs” of close ties to Beijing, including “debt traps” and espionage. ‘More aspiration than reality’ Henrietta Levin, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, believes that many Latin American countries would prefer to deepen economic engagement with the US over China. But in many cases, that hasn’t been an option. She pointed to Ecuador’s decision to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with China in
How US sinking of Iranian warship blew hole in Modi’s ‘guardian’ claims
New Delhi, India — Dressed in a blue Navy uniform and sleek sunglasses, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in late October, addressed a gathering of the country’s sea warriors. He listed out the strategic significance of the Indian Ocean — the massive volumes of trade and oil that pass through it. “The Indian Navy is the guardian of the Indian Ocean,” he then said, to loud, proud chants of “Long Live Mother India” from his audience. Less than five months later, India has been shown up as a “guardian”, unable to protect its own guest. On Wednesday, the Iranian warship, IRIS Dena, was torpedoed by a US submarine just 44 nautical miles off (81km) southern Sri Lanka, as it was returning home from naval drills hosted by India. During the “Milan” biennial multilateral naval exercise, Indian President Droupadi Murmu had posed with sailors from the Dena. Yet it took the Indian Navy more than a day after the Iranian warship was struck to respond formally to the attack, which US officials made clear was a sign of how the Donald Trump administration was willing and ready to expand its war against Iran. “An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon on Wednesday. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.” Tehran is furious over the attack on its warship hundreds of miles away from home. And Iran made sure to note that the IRIS Dena warship was “a guest of India’s navy”, returning after completing the exercise it joined upon New Delhi’s invitation. Advertisement “The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles [3,218km] away from Iran’s shores,” Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said, referring to the sinking of the frigate. “Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret [the] precedent it has set.” Now, the IRIS Dena is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, and more than 80 Iranian sailors, who marched during joint parades and posed for selfies with Indian naval officers during their two-week visit, are dead. What has also fallen, said retired Indian naval officers and analysts, is India’s self-image as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean. Instead, they said, the US attack on the Dena has exposed the limits of India’s power and influence in its own maritime back yard. A vessel sails off the Galle coast after a submarine attack on the Iranian military ship, Iris Dena, off Sri Lanka, in Galle, Sri Lanka, March 4, 2026 [Thilina Kaluthotage/Reuters] ‘War reaches India’s backyard’ After participating in the naval exercises, IRIS Dena left Visakhapatnam on India’s eastern coast on February 26. It was hit in international waters, just south of Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, in the early hours of March 4, local time. In response, Sri Lankan Navy rescuers recovered more than 80 bodies and picked up 32 survivors, reportedly including the commander and some senior officers from the warship. More than 100 men are still missing. In a tweet welcoming the Dena to the naval drills, the Indian Navy’s Eastern Command had posted: “Her arrival … [reflects] long-standing cultural links between the two nations [Iran and India]”. Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, the former vice chief of India’s naval staff, told Al Jazeera that he attended the Iranian parade at the function. “I met and really liked them, especially their march for sailors travelling thousands of miles,” Sinha said. “It is always sad to see a ship sinking. But in a war, emotions don’t work. There’s nothing ethical in a war.” Sinha said that the Indian Ocean — central to the strategic and energy security of the nation with the world’s largest population — was thought to be a fairly safe zone earlier. “But that is not the case, as we are learning now,” he told Al Jazeera. “The unfolding battle [between the US and Israel on the one hand, and Iran on the other] has reached India’s back yard. New Delhi has to be concerned,” Sinha, who served in the Indian Navy for four decades, added. “The liberty we enjoyed in the Indian Ocean has apparently shrunk.” Security personnel stand guard as an ambulance enters inside the Galle National Hospital, following a submarine attack on the Iranian military ship, IRIS Dena, off the coast of Sri Lanka, in Galle, Sri Lanka, March 5, 2026 [Thilina Kaluthotage/Reuters] India’s Catch-22 situation Only on Thursday evening did the Indian Navy issue any formal statement on the attack — more than 24 hours after the Dena was hit by a torpedo. Advertisement The Navy said that it received distress signals from the Iranian ship and had decided on deploying resources to help with rescuing sailors. But by then, it said, the Sri Lankan Navy had already stepped to lead the rescue effort. Neither New Delhi nor the Navy has criticised — even mildly — the decision by the US to sink the Iranian warship. Military analysts and former Indian naval officers say India is caught in a classic catch-22: Was India aware of the incoming US attack in the Indian Ocean on an Iranian warship, or was it blindsided by a nuclear-submarine in its backyard? Admiral Arun Prakash, the former chief of India’s naval staff, told Al Jazeera that if New Delhi was blindsided, “it reflects on the US-India relationship directly.” “If it is a surprise, then that’s a great concern since we have a so-called strategic partnership with the USA.” And if India knew about the attacks, it would be seen by many as strategically siding with the US and Israel over their war on Iran. C Uday Bhaskar, a retired Indian Navy officer and currently the director of the Society for Policy Studies, an independent think tank based in New Delhi, said that the US sinking an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean muddies the Indian perception of itself as a “net security provider” in the region. Bhaskar said the incident is a
Video shows projectile exploding near Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait
NewsFeed Videos showed a projectile striking near Kuwait’s Ali al-Salem Air Base, which has hosted a substantial number of US forces. Earlier on Thursday, the United States announced it was closing its embassy in the country and is reportedly evacuating its staff. Published On 6 Mar 20266 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
US House joins Senate to vote down war powers resolution
NewsFeed The US House of Representatives has joined the Senate in killing a war powers resolution that would have forced Donald Trump to end his war on Iran. Although the vote was largely symbolic, Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane says Democrats are using it to get Republicans on the record. Published On 6 Mar 20266 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Who is choosing Iran’s next Supreme Leader?
NewsFeed Iran’s Assembly of Experts is now tasked with choosing the next Supreme Leader. It elected Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 1989. Published On 5 Mar 20265 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Canada PM Carney says unable to rule out military role in Iran war
Canadian leader also said the US-Israeli attacks on Iran appear to be ‘inconsistent with international law’. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 5 Mar 20265 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he could not rule out his country’s military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East, after earlier saying that the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law”. Speaking alongside Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Thursday, Carney was asked whether there was a situation in which Canada would get involved. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “One can never categorically rule out participation,” Carney said, noting the question was “hypothetical”. “We will stand by our allies,” he said, adding that “we will always defend Canadians”. Carney said earlier that he supported the strikes on Iran “with some regret” as they represented an extreme example of a rupturing world order. The Canadian prime minister also stressed that his country was not informed in advance of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, in his first remarks since the war was launched on Saturday. “We were not informed in advance, we were not asked to participate,” Carney told reporters travelling with him in Australia on Wednesday. “Prima facie, it appears that these actions are inconsistent with international law,” he said. “The United States and Israel have acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting with allies, including Canada,” he added, according to Australia’s SBS News, while also condemning strikes on civilians in Iran and calling for “all parties … to respect the rules of international engagement”. Whether the US and Israeli attacks on Iran had broken international law was “a judgement for others to make”, he added. Advertisement Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on Wednesday that efforts were under way to help more than 2,000 Canadians who have requested assistance from the government to leave the Middle East region since the war broke out on Saturday. Anand said about half of all inquiries for help were from Canadians in the United Arab Emirates, more than 230 from Qatar, at least 160 from Lebanon, more than 90 from Israel and 74 from Iran. Canada’s Foreign Ministry has been instructed to contract charter flights out of the UAE in the coming days, contingent on approval from the UAE government to use its airspace, the minister said. Commercial air traffic remains largely absent across much of the region, with major Gulf hubs – including Dubai, the world’s busiest airport for international passengers – largely shut amid the conflict, in the biggest travel disruption since the COVID pandemic. Repatriation flights chartered by foreign governments, including Britain and France, were due to leave on Wednesday and Thursday, while the UAE opened safe air corridors to allow some citizens to return home. Under normal circumstances, thousands of commercial flights would depart the region each day. Adblock test (Why?)
North Korea’s Kim oversees cruise missile tests from new naval destroyer
Kim Jong Un supervised the launch of sea-to-surface ‘strategic cruise missiles’ from country’s new naval destroyer. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 5 Mar 20265 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen the test-firing of “strategic cruise missiles” from a new 5,000-tonne naval destroyer before the vessel’s official commissioning, according to state media. Kim supervised the launch of sea-to-surface missiles from the destroyer Choe Hyon on Wednesday, assessing the test as a “core” element of the new warship’s capabilities, which he described as a “new symbol of sea defence” for his country. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Calling for the production of more warships of a similar class or better, Kim said his navy’s adoption of nuclear weapons was making progress. “Our Navy’s forces for attacking from under and above water will grow rapidly. The arming of the Navy with nuclear weapons is making satisfactory progress,” Kim said at the Nampo Shipyard in the west of the country, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “All these successes constitute a radical change in defending our maritime sovereignty, something that we have not achieved for half a century,” he said. South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency noted that North Korea uses references to “strategic” weapons to indicate they could have nuclear capabilities. According to KCNA, over a two-day visit to the shipyard, spanning Tuesday and Wednesday, Kim inspected the Choe Hyon, the lead vessel in a new series of 5,000-tonne “Choe Hyon-class” destroyers currently under construction in North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversees a missile test launch conducted by the Choe Hyon naval destroyer during his visit to inspect the vessel at the Nampo Shipyard, in North Korea, on March 4, 2026 [KCNA via Reuters] ‘Wage a more active and persistent struggle’ In May 2025, North Korea’s ambitious naval modernisation programme suffered a major setback when a second Choe Hyon-class destroyer capsized during a botched side-launch ceremony at Chongjin Shipyard, an incident witnessed by the Korean leader. Advertisement Later, and in a rare admission of failure, KCNA reported that a launch mechanism malfunction caused the stern of the 5,000-tonne destroyer to slide prematurely into the water. The accident crushed parts of the hull and left the bow stranded on the shipway. At the time, Kim characterised the launch failure as a “criminal act”, blaming the incident on “absolute carelessness” and “irresponsibility” across multiple state institutions. This week’s missile tests come after the North Korean leader pledged in late February to lift living standards as he opened a rare congress of the governing Workers’ Party, held once every five years. Kim told the congress that the ruling party was “faced with heavy and urgent historic tasks of boosting economic construction and the people’s standard of living”. “This requires us to wage a more active and persistent struggle without allowing even a moment’s standstill or stagnation,” he said. North Korea has prioritised nuclear weapons development and military strength above all else, claiming that it must be militarily strong to resist pressure from the United States and its ally, South Korea. Since taking power in late 2011, Kim has maintained the military as a core priority while simultaneously emphasising economic strengthening to address the country’s chronic impoverishment. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran’s place in World Cup 2026 in doubt amid conflict, Trump’s dismissal
Among the wide-ranging ramifications of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Iran’s participation in the FIFA World Cup 2026 has become a key talking point, with the tournament less than 100 days away. The global sporting event will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States from June 11 to July 19, with Iran among the 48 nations expected to travel to North America at least a week prior to the opening game. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list US President Donald Trump says he doesn’t care if Iran participates in the World Cup or not. “I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes,” Trump told the American news site Politico on Tuesday. The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Saturday that have killed at least 1,045 people, including its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and sparked a regional conflict that has spread to 12 countries. Tehran responded by launching waves of missiles and drones at Israel and towards several military bases in the Middle East where US forces operate. Following the escalations, Iran’s spot at the World Cup has come under question, and officials from the Iranian football federation and FIFA have been noncommittal on the world’s 20th-ranked football nation’s participation. “After this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Mehdi Taj, president of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), told local sports portal Varzesh3 on Sunday. Iran were the first team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026, but their position in the tournament has been thrown into question amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East [File: Rula Rouhana/Reuters] Uncharted territory A leading expert on sports and geopolitics believes that Iran’s participation in the tournament is in serious doubt amid an armed conflict between one of the host nations and a participant. Advertisement “Ultimately, the diplomatic solution [will be] that Iran itself just steps aside and withdraws from the tournament,” Simon Chadwick, a professor of Afro-Eurasian sport at the Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, told Al Jazeera. Chadwick said it’s “very difficult” to see the US allowing players, backroom staff and officials to enter the country. “The US will not be keen to admit [Iranian] players, officials or medics – who normally travel alongside teams to tournaments. “Given that they [Iran] are going to have to play their games in the US, I find it unlikely that they will be there.” Despite the logistical quagmire and its unlikely resolution in a timely manner, Chadwick said withdrawal will not be an easy option for Iran, who will think “very long and hard before walking away”. The last time a team pulled out of a FIFA World Cup due to political reasons was in 1950, when Argentina withdrew, citing disagreements with the Brazilian Football Confederation. “We are in uncharted territory here,” Chadwick explained. “We tend to associate boycotts and countries not participating in sport mega-events with the Olympic Games, where mass boycotts were seen in 1980 and 1984 during the Cold War. “Typically, that doesn’t tend to happen in World Cups.” Chadwick, who has written several books on the economy and politics of sport, believes the impact of withdrawal will not just be political, but also financial. “On the one hand, we are living in very complex and sensitive times, and arguably there are reasons for a country either to withdraw or be banned,” he said. “But we’re [also] living in highly commercial times, and the financial consequences of unilaterally walking away from what is arguably the world’s biggest sport mega event is an act of self-harm. We also don’t know how FIFA might react if a nation were to unilaterally walk away from its qualifying spot.” Can sport diplomacy save the World Cup? Despite the tournament being spread across three host nations, all of Iran’s matches are allocated to venues on the US West Coast. This could largely be due to the presence of a sizeable Iranian community, especially in Los Angeles, where Team Melli will play two of their three Group G games. According to Chadwick, had Iran been playing games in Canada or Mexico, the team could have swayed their decision to participate. But the organisers are unlikely to move the games out of the US now. “It would be extremely unusual to take games to another country to accommodate one particular country, particularly when the president of FIFA and the president of the US seem to be very close,” he said, adding, “the relationship between the US and Canada, and the US and Mexico is somewhat complicated, too.” Advertisement While FIFA hasn’t made a clear statement on the issue, its Secretary-General Mattias Grafstrom has said the world football governing body is monitoring the conflict and the situation emerging from it. “We had a meeting today, and it is premature to comment in detail, but we will monitor developments around all issues around the world,” he said last week. With the tournament a little more than three months away, FIFA said it will “continue to communicate with the host governments”. Chadwick believes that FIFA will try to avoid an outcome where Iran is excluded, as it would cause a logistical headache and set the wrong precedent. “What we’re more likely to see is sport diplomacy really kicking in,” he predicted. “The last thing that FIFA will want is for a country to be excluded or simply not turn up because that does set precedent and puts pressure on FIFA.” ‘Sport’s cold war’ With the conflict raging on for the fifth day and spreading further across the Middle East, it is unclear when the Iranian football officials will take a call on sending their team to the US. However, if Iran does opt to withdraw from the World Cup, it could lead to a sporting crisis. Chadwick thinks the consequences could be wide-ranging and long-term. “Politically, it would perhaps take us towards a new