TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Iran’s World Cup team arrived in Mexico wearing lapel pins highlighting the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school at the start of the war in the Mideast.
The players wore gold-colored pins with the number “168” on their jackets when getting off their plane Sunday in Tijuana, Mexico. It referred to the people killed, most of them children, when a Feb. 28 strike, likely launched by the U.S., hit the school in Minab in southern Iran.
Iran’s embassy in Hungary on Monday noted the pins in a social media post with a reference to Minab.
The strike on the school, which was close to a Revolutionary Guard base, was previously memorialized by the Iran team before a warmup game in March in Antalya, Turkey. Players held up pink and purple school backpacks while their national anthem played.
Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack on the school, which has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The U.S. military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians.
The Iran delegation flew on a private jet from Antalya on Saturday to Tijuana, after a late change of plans two weeks ago to use Mexico as a training base instead of Tucson, Arizona.
Iran is preparing to play all three of its group-stage games in the U.S, which has delayed processing visas for players and has denied some to members of the delegation which have ties to the Revolutionary Guard.
However, it is unclear when the Iran team will be allowed to enter the U.S. ahead of their June 15 opening game in Inglewood near Los Angeles, to face New Zealand.
Iran is due to return to Tijuana between games, and go back to Inglewood on June 21 to play Belgium, then head to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26.
Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 on July 3 at the Dallas Cowboys' stadium in Arlington, Texas, if both teams come second in their groups.
AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
Fans for team Iran wave as players arrive for the World Cup soccer tournament in Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Iran's Ehsan Hajisafi, center, walks with a team official as he arrives with his teammates for the World Cup soccer tournament in Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Iran's Alireza Jahanbakhsh smiles as he arrives with his teammates for the World Cup soccer tournament in Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is seeing a rising number of premature births, emergency cesarean sections and other pregnancy complications.
Some areas near the front lines have seen rates of premature births nearly double since the war started with Russia’s invasion in 2022, according to U.N. data. Experts say the reasons for this are complex, but the profound psychological and physical stress the war is inflicting on pregnant mothers is contributing.
“We’re seeing this real link between acute stress and birthing and pregnancy-related complications,” said Isaac Hurskin, a spokesperson for the U.N. Population Fund.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Mariia Skladan, right, her husband Vladyslav and their daughter Elina pose for a photo after mother and baby left the regional perinatal center of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A woman pushes her baby in a stroller past a car workshop destroyed in a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Marharyta Nekhoroshyva holds her son Mark inside a shelter at the children's regional hospital of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A medic does exercises with a 1-year-old child during a therapy session at the children's regional hospital in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Marharyta Nekhoroshyva, right, speaks to a medic while her son Mark plays with toys during a therapy session at the children's regional hospital in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Nurse Victoria Bohdanova changes the diaper of a premature baby inside a temperature-controlled incubator at the regional perinatal center of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Dasha Kosmin touches her son Mark at the ICU department of the children's regional hospital in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Dr. Andrii Lobanov listens to a premature baby's heartbeat with a stethoscope inside a temperature-controlled incubator at the regional perinatal center of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A doctor shows Olha Karpenko her newborn daughter, Diana, for the first time after her birth by cesarean section at the regional perinatal center of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A medic calms Olha Karpenko before a cesarean section at the regional perinatal center of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A doctor holds a newborn girl, Diana, after performing a cesarean section on her mother, Olha Karpenko, at the regional perinatal center of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A nurse checks the temperature of a premature baby inside a temperature-controlled incubator at the regional perinatal center of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Dasha Kosmin touches her son Mark at the ICU department of the children's regional hospital in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
