Iran qualifies for the 2026 World Cup after Taremi scores twice in 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan

Iran qualified for the 2026 World Cup after Mehdi Taremi scored twice in a 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan on Tuesday.

The Inter Milan striker scored his second goal in the 83rd minute in Tehran, giving Iran the point it needed to qualify to a fourth straight appearance at the World Cup and a seventh overall.

The 48-team tournament will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Relations are tense between Iran and the United States. President Donald Trump has linked the actions of Yemen’s Houthi rebels to Iran, warning Tehran it would “ suffer the consequences ” for further attacks by the group. It's unclear how the strained relations will impact the Iranian team's preparations.

Uzbekistan, three points behind Iran in Group A, would have qualified for the first time with a victory and twice took the lead at the Azadi Stadium.

Khojimat Erkinov struck after 16 minutes but Taremi put Iran back on level terms seven minutes into the second half by firing an unstoppable volley into the roof of the net from the edge of the area.

Immediately, Abbosbek Fayzullaev restored Uzbekistan’s lead but, Taremi responded, this time from close range, to send Iran to the World Cup where it will attempt to progress past the group stages for the first time.

The top two from each of the three groups of six in Asia are guaranteed a place, while the teams that finish third and fourth will advance to a further stage to compete for two more places.

Third-placed United Arab Emirates defeated bottom team North Korea 2-1 to move four points behind Uzbekistan while Asian champion Qatar is out of the running for automatic qualification after a 3-1 loss in Kyrgyzstan.

Earlier, Australia took a big step toward securing a spot at tournament with a 2-0 win over China in Hangzhou that also ended the hosts’ hopes of automatic qualification.

First-half goals from Jackson Irvine and Nishan Velupillay were enough for the Socceroos. Australia is second, three points clear of third-place Saudi Arabia, which drew 0-0 at already-qualified Japan.

China has yet to return to the World Cup since its 2002 debut and remains bottom of the group, level on six points with Bahrain who lost 1-0 in Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia is still in the hunt for a seventh appearance after a battling goalless draw in Japan. The hosts dominated at Saitama Stadium but were unable to get the breakthrough.

In Group B, South Korea stayed top but dropped two points for the second time inside a week, drawing 1-1 at home to Jordan.

South Korea needed just six minutes to take the lead through Lee Jae-sung.

A win would have put the Koreans on the brink of an 11th straight appearance but Jordan was level on the half-hour thanks to Mahmoud Al-Mardi.

South Korea has 16 points, three more than Jordan. Iraq is in third with 12 after a surprise 2-1 loss against the Palestinian team. Oman beat Kuwait 1-0 to move onto 10 points.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Iran's Saleh Hardani, right, controls the ball against Uzbekistan's Farrukh Sayfiev, during a World Cup 2026 group A qualifying soccer match between Iran and Uzbekistan at Azadi Stadium in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran's Saeid Ezatolahi, center, and Uzbekistan's Rustamjon Ashurmatov, left, challenge for the ball during their Asian qualifier group A match for 2026 World Cup in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Jordan's Mousa Altamari, left, and South Korea's Lee Tae-seok, right, fight for the ball during the third round of the Asian qualifier group B match between South Korea and Jordan for 2026 World Cup at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korea's Lee Jae-sung celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the third round of the Asian qualifier group B match between South Korea and Jordan for 2026 World Cup at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Jordan's Nizar Al Rashdan, left, and South Korea's Hwang In-beom, right, fight for the ball during the third round of the Asian qualifier group B match between South Korea and Jordan for 2026 World Cup at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, South Korea, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Japan's Kyogo Furuhashi, left, and Saudi Arabia's Ali Majrashi battle for control the ball during the World Cup 2026 group C qualifying soccer match between Japan and Saudi Arabia at Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan team members celebrates after the World Cup 2026 group C qualifying soccer match between Japan and Saudi Arabia at Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan's Ao Tanaka, center, and Saudi Arabia's Ziyad Aljohani battle for control the ball during the World Cup 2026 group C qualifying soccer match between Japan and Saudi Arabia at Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Australia's Mitchell Duke heads the ball away during a World Cup 2026 group C qualifier match against China held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo)

Australia's Jackson Irvine keeps control of the ball from China's Sai Erjiniao (6) and China's Baihelamu Abuduwaili (23) during a World Cup 2026 group C qualifier match held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo)

Australia's head coach Tony Popovic, left reacts with Australia's Jackson Irvine after winning a World Cup 2026 group C qualifier match against China held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States carried out a lightning military strike on Venezuela early Saturday, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and spiriting them out of the country. President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “going to run” Venezuela until a transition of power can occur and the U.S. will tap the country's vast oil reserves as part of a rebuilding effort.

American officials say Maduro and his wife will face narco-terrorism charges in U.S. courts.

The overnight operation left Venezuela reeling, with its leadership uncertain and details of casualties and the impact on its military still to emerge. Countries across the region and the wider world were absorbing the destabilizing implications of the apparently unilateral U.S. action.

Here’s what we know — and what we don’t.

Explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, early Saturday. At least seven blasts were heard in an attack that lasted less than 30 minutes. The targets appeared to include military infrastructure. Smoke was seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas and another military installation in the capital was without power.

Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told The Associated Press that Maduro and Flores were at their home within the Ft. Tiuna military installation outside Caracas when they were captured.

Venezuelan officials said people had been killed, but the scale of casualties was unclear.

The attack followed months of escalating pressure by the Trump administration, which has built up naval forces in the waters off South America and since early September has carried out deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Last week the U.S. struck Venezuelan soil with a CIA drone strike at a docking area alleged to have been used by drug cartels.

Trump said during a news conference Saturday the U.S. would run the country and gestured to officials arrayed behind, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and said they’d be the ones doing it “for a period of time.”

Trump claimed the American presence was already in place, though there were no immediate signs of this. He suggested the U.S. would use revenues from oil sales to pay for running the country.

“We’re going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend,” he said.

Trump claimed that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez had been sworn in as president shortly before he spoke to reporters and added she had spoken with Rubio.

“She is essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. Very simple,” Trump said.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social network X that Maduro and Flores had both been indicted in the Southern District of New York and “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”

Maduro was indicted in March 2020, during Trump’s first term, but the indictment against Flores was not previously made public.

In the indictment made public on Saturday, Maduro is charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

U.S. authorities accused Maduro of leading a “a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.” The indictment alleges the drug trafficking “enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.”

Authorities estimate that as much as 250 tons of cocaine were trafficked through Venezuela by 2020, according to the indictment. The drugs were moved on go-fast vessels, fishing boats and container ships or by plane from clandestine airstrips, authorities allege.

Trump said Maduro and his wife are aboard a U.S. warship and will face prosecution in New York.

Trump gave some details of the operation during a Saturday morning interview on “Fox and Friends.”

He said a few U.S. members of the operation were injured but he believed no one was killed.

He said Maduro was “highly guarded” in a presidential palace akin to a “fortress” and the Venezuelan leader tried to get to a safe room but wasn’t able to get there in time.

Trump said U.S. forces practiced the operation ahead of time on a replica building, and the U.S. turned off “almost all of the lights in Caracas,” although he didn’t detail how they accomplished that.

Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, also offered some details of the operation, saying some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed.

The U.S. does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, and the legal implications of the strike under U.S. law were not immediately clear.

The Trump administration maintains that Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela and claims he has effectively turned Venezuela into a criminal enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist groups.

Mike Lee, a U.S. senator from Utah, said on X that the action “likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack.”

But some Democrats were more critical.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said in a statement, “President Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro — however terrible he is — is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere.”

Maduro’s government accused the United States of an “imperialist attack” on civilian and military installations and urged citizens to take to the streets.

Armed individuals and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. But in other areas of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.

Venezuela’s neighbor Colombia sent troops to the border and anticipated an influx of refugees.

Latin American leaders were sharply divided over the strikes. Trump’s right-wing ally President Javier Milei of Argentina celebrated the operation, while leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned American actions and warned of the sharp repercussions of past American interventions in Latin America.

Cuba, a supporter of the Maduro government and a longtime adversary of the United States, urged the international community to respond to what President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called “the criminal attack.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the attack and capture of Maduro would be “an unacceptable infringement on the sovereignty of an independent state.”

U.S. allies in Europe — critical of Maduro but mindful of international law — offered muted responses as they scrambled to understand the scale and implications of the attack.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc “has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition. Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the U.N. Charter must be respected. We call for restraint.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had not spoken to Trump about the attack and stressed that “the U.K. was not involved in any way.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Spain was “conducting a thorough monitoring of the events in Venezuela” and called for “de-escalation and responsibility.”

Lawless reported from London. Associated Press Writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this story.

FILE - President Nicolas Maduro acknowledges supporters alongside first lady Cilia Flores during his closing election campaign rally in Caracas, Venezuela, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

Pro-government armed civilians patrol in La Guaira, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro embrace in downtown Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Men watch smoke rising from a dock after explosions were heard at La Guaira port, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)