Sejarah mencatat pemerintah Inggris sempat melonggarkan aturan bagi Korea Utara pada Piala Dunia 1966 setelah mendapat peringatan dari FA.

Di sisi lain, Indonesia kehilangan hak tuan rumah Piala Dunia U-20 2023 akibat menolak kehadiran tim Israel, namun FIFA melunak saat AS menerapkan aturan ketat terhadap Iran.

"Unfortunately, our world is a very aggressive world, and security goes above everything," sebut Infantino.

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FIFA menegaskan statusnya yang bukan merupakan lembaga politik atau pemegang otoritas hukum tertinggi.

"You need to respect the decisions which are taken, and when I say to chill, I don't mean to chill and do nothing," urainya.

Ia meminta semua pihak memahami batasan kemampuan dan wewenang yang dimiliki oleh organisasi sepak bola dunia.

"We need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces," ucap Infantino.

Infantino menyatakan bahwa penanganan masalah ini sudah diupayakan secara maksimal. "We are a sports organisation.

We try to do our best with the means that we have," sambungnya.

Keberhasilan Membawa Iran ke Piala Dunia

Terlepas dari pembatasan ketat yang membuat Iran harus bermarkas di Meksiko, Infantino mengklaim kehadiran tim tersebut di AS merupakan sebuah keberhasilan besar.

"When people were saying it would be impossible for Iran to come to the World Cup, I promised them that they would come," klaim Infantino.

Laga perdana grup Iran melawan Selandia Baru dijadwalkan berlangsung di Los Angeles pada hari Senin.

"I don't know who else would have been able to ensure in these circumstances - which we could not influence - Iran could come and play," tegasnya.