BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s hopes of World Cup qualification are being impacted by the Iran war because players cannot get visas for the playoff tournament in Mexico and the team's coach is stranded in the United Arab Emirates.
“Because of airspace closures, our head coach, Graham Arnold, is unable to leave the United Arab Emirates,” the Iraqi soccer federation said in a statement on Instagram on Wednesday. “In addition, several embassies remain closed at the present time, preventing several professional players, technical and medical staff members from obtaining entry visas to Mexico.”
Iraq is scheduled to play either Bolivia or Suriname in Monterrey, Mexico on March 31 for one of the last two qualification places for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The federation said it is in “constant communication with FIFA regarding the arrangements for our national team’s participation” in the match. It said the Asian Football Confederation is also “fully aware of every development regarding our team’s situation.”
If Iraq fails to qualify through the playoff, it could take another path if Iran is unable to take part in the tournament because of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on the country.
“We cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Iran’s top soccer official Mehdi Taj said.
Should Iran pull out — still hugely speculative — Iraq or the United Arab Emirates would be likely replacements as the ninth and 10th-ranked Asian teams in qualifying.
But FIFA’s legal regulations are vague and appear to give FIFA president Gianni Infantino wide powers to shape any decision.
Iraq’s most certain hope of qualifying remains winning the playoff later this month.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE- Iraqi's head coach Graham Arnold sits on the bench at the start of the 2026 World Cup play off first leg soccer match between UAE and Iraq in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Walid Ibrahim, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is headed toward a vote Wednesday on President Donald Trump's decision to embark on a war against Iran, an extraordinary test in Congress for a conflict that has rapidly spread across the Middle East with no clear U.S. exit strategy.
The legislation, known as a war powers resolution, gives lawmakers an opportunity to demand congressional approval before any further attacks are carried out. The Senate resolution and a similar bill being voted on in the House later this week face unlikely paths through the Republican-controlled Congress and would almost certainly be vetoed by Trump even if they were to pass.
Nonetheless, the votes marked a weighty moment for lawmakers. Their decisions on the five-day-old war — which Trump entered without congressional approval — could determine the fates of U.S. military members, countless other lives and the future of the region.
“Today every senator — every single one — will pick a side," said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer during a floor speech. “Do you stand with the American people who are exhausted with forever wars in the Middle East or stand with Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth as they bumble us headfirst into another war?”
After launching a surprise attack against Iran on Saturday, Trump has scrambled to win support for a conflict that Americans of all political persuasions were already wary of entering. Trump administration officials have been a frequent presence on Capitol Hill this week as they try to reassure lawmakers that they have the situation under control.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the war could extend eight weeks, a longer time frame than has previously been floated by the Trump administration. He also acknowledged that Iran is still able to carry out missile attacks even as the U.S. tries to control the country's airspace.
U.S. service members “remain in harm’s way, and we must be clear-eyed that the risk is still high,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same press conference.
Six U.S. military members were killed over the weekend in a drone strike in Kuwait.
Trump has also not ruled out deploying U.S. ground troops. He has said he is hoping to end the bombing campaign within a few weeks, but his goals for the war have shifted from regime change to stopping Iran from developing nuclear capabilities to crippling its navy and missile programs.
Sen. John Barrasso, second in Senate Republican leadership, said GOP senators would send a message that Democrats are “wrong” for forcing a vote on the war powers resolution.
“Democrats would rather obstruct Donald Trump than obliterate Iran's national nuclear program,” he added.
Almost all Republican senators were readying to vote Wednesday against the war powers resolution to halt military action, but a number still expressed hesitation at the idea of troop deployments.
“I don’t think the American people want to see troops on the ground,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., as he exited a classified briefing Tuesday. He added that Trump administration officials “left open that possibility,” but it wasn't an option they were emphasizing.
Republican Sen. Todd Young, who told reporters earlier this week he was undecided on the legislation, released a statement Wednesday morning saying that now that the U.S. has entered the war, the danger "will only grow if we limit the president's military options at this critical moment."
He called for lawmakers to conduct oversight and evaluate any requests from the administration for more wartime funding or authorities.
The votes in Congress this week represented potentially consequential markers of just where lawmakers stand on the war as they look ahead to midterm elections and the consequences of the conflict.
“Nobody gets to hide and give the president an easy pass or an end-run around the Constitution,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat leading the war powers resolution. “Everybody's got to declare whether they're for this war or against it.”
Republican leaders have successfully, though narrowly, defeated a series of war powers resolutions pertaining to several other conflicts that Trump has entered or threatened to enter. This one, however, is different.
Unlike Trump's military campaigns against alleged drug boats or even Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the attack on Iran represents an open-ended conflict that is already ricocheting across the region. For Republicans who are used to operating in a political party dominated by Trump and his promises of keeping the U.S. out of foreign entanglements, the moment represented a bit of whiplash.
“War is ugly, it always has been ugly, but we're taking out a regime that has been trying to attack us for quite some time,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican.
Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has long pushed Trump to engage overseas, argued that the widening conflict represented an opportunity for Arab and European countries to join in the fight against Iran and the militant groups it supports.
“I don’t mind people being on record as to whether or not they think this is a good idea,” he told reporters, but also argued that too much power over the military was ceded to Congress in the War Powers Act, which mandates that presidents must withdraw troops from a conflict within 90 days if there is no congressional authorization.
On the other side of the Capitol, House leaders were also readying for an intense debate over the war followed by a vote Thursday.
“I do believe we have the votes to defeat it, I certainly hope we do,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said after an all-member briefing on Tuesday night. Republican leaders were pushing to the floor their own counter-programming resolution that states that Iran is ”the largest state sponsor of terrorism."
Meanwhile, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expected a strong showing from Democrats in favor of the war powers resolution. At a news conference Wednesday, several Democratic members who are veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars spoke about the heavy costs of those conflicts.
One of them was Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. “I learned when I was fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, that when elites in Washington bang the war drums, pound their chest, talk about the costs of war and act tough, they're not talking about them doing it, they're not talking about their kids,” Crow said. “They're talking about working class kids like us.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for a briefing for lawmakers on Iran at a secure room in the basement of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters as he arrives for an intelligence briefing with top lawmakers on Iran, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Mar. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., center, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., left, arrive to speak with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Kaine is leading an effort to advance a swift vote on a war powers resolution that would restrain President Donald Trump's military attack on Iran. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., center, joined at left by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives to speak with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
