Iran will be at the World Cup and will play in the US, FIFA boss says
Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, speaks during the 76th FIFA Congress on April 30, 2026, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Rich Lam – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Iran will be participating in the 2026 World Cup and will play in the United States, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in remarks Thursday.
“Of course Iran will play in the United States of America,” he said. “And the reason for that is very simple, dear friends, it’s because we have to unite.”
He added, “We have to bring people together. It is my responsibility, it is our responsibility. Football unites the world, FIFA unites the world, you unite the world, we unite the world.”
Iran said last month it would not participate in the global sporting event amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. A ceasefire has been in place since April 7.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In this June 25, 2018, file photo, an entrance to Fort Bliss is shown, in Fort Bliss, Texas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images, FILE)
(EL PASO, Texas) — Several detainees at a Texas immigration detention facility claim in sworn court declarations that they heard a Cuban immigrant, whose death was later ruled a homicide, pleading for medication shortly before hearing what sounded like guards slamming him to the ground.
Geraldo Lunas Campos died in ICE custody on Jan. 3 at Camp East Montana, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
He is the third detainee to die at the detention center since it opened last year as a tent facility on the grounds of the Fort Bliss Army base outside El Paso.
In an autopsy report released last week, the El Paso County deputy medical examiner determined that Campos died from “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”
Attorneys for the Campos family filed an emergency petition last week to prevent alleged witnesses from being deported. The petition, which was granted by a federal judge, cites reports alleging that guards at the facility choked and asphyxiated Campos.
Some of those witnesses submitted sworn declarations this week alleging that they heard Campos ask guards for his asthma medication on the day he died.
“The guard then said, ‘Shut up or we’re going to make you faint,'” wrote Henry Bolano, a detainee, in English and Spanish. “The last thing I heard was Geraldo speak in a voice that sounded like he couldn’t breathe. He said, ‘Let go of me. You’re asphyxiating me.'”
“Then there was silence,” Bolano wrote.
Santo Jesus Flores, another detainee, said he heard a “struggle ensue” that sounded like “the slamming of a person’s body against the floor or the wall” after Campos asked for his medication.
“I heard Geraldo scream that he could not breathe,” Flores said. “I could hear them trying to revive him, but they could not keep him alive.”
A DHS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News regarding the detainees’ sworn declarations.
According to DHS, Campos was detained in July during an immigration enforcement action in New York. He had prior convictions including sexual contact with a minor and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the DHS and court records.
In a statement released following his death, a DHS spokesperson said Campos was pronounced dead after “experiencing medical distress.”
“Lunas became disruptive while in line for medication and refused to return to his assigned dorm,” the statement said. “He was subsequently placed in segregation. While in segregation, staff observed him in distress and contacted on-site medical personnel for assistance.”
People stand in a security line at George Bush Intercontinental Airport that extended all the way to the airport’s subway terminal in Houston, March 24, 2026. (KTRK)
(NEW YORK) — Travel upheaval continued at some of the nation’s airports on Tuesday as people were forced to navigate long security lines despite President Donald Trump deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to help cut down on wait times.
One of the longest security waits on Tuesday was at Bush International Airport in Houston, where travelers stood in a line stretching from the airport subway to the security check-in gates, according to ABC Houston station KTRK.
As of 11 a.m. local time in Houston, the wait time to get through security was estimated to exceed four hours, according to an advisory posted on the Houston Airport System’s website.
The airport disruption in Houston even delayed a member of the National Transportation Safety Board team who was flying to New York’s LaGuardia Airport to investigate Sunday night’s deadly crash between an Air Canada jet and a Port Authority fire truck, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“Our air traffic control specialist, who was in line with TSA for three hours until we called in Houston to beg to see if we can get her through so we can get here,” she said. “So, it’s been a really big challenge to get the entire team here, and they’re still arriving as I speak.”
Airport security lines are growing nationwide as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers, who haven’t received a paycheck for over three weeks, continue to call in sick or quit amid a partial government shutdown over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The TSA reported that about 40% of its workers at Bush airport, whose duties include staffing security lines and running X-ray machines and magnetometers, called out sick on Monday. Houston’s other airport, William P. Hobby Airport, reported that about 40% of TSA personnel called out sick on Monday, according to the TSA.
Across the nation, more than 3,200 TSA officers called out sick on Monday, according to data released by the agency on Tuesday. The numbers weren’t as high as Sunday, when 11.76% of the TSA officers scheduled to work called out sick.
Other major airports were also seeing a high level of absent TSA workers on Monday. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport both reported that over 30% of TSA workers called out sick on Monday.
In a statement on Tuesday, Lauren Bis, the DHS acting assistant secretary for public affairs, said the partial government shutdown over DHS funding has caused “more than 450 TSA officers to quit and thousands have called out from work because they are not able to afford gas, childcare, food, or rent.”
Over the weekend, Trump announced he would deploy ICE agents to at least 14 of the nation’s busiest airports to assist TSA workers coping with long security lines.
Those agents began showing up at airports on Monday. The White House’s border czar, Tom Homan, told ABC News on Monday that the agents will be directed by the TSA administrator on how they will best be used to “plug holes in security.”
Both Homan and Trump said the agents will still be responsible for enforcing immigration laws if they come across violations or spot people in the country illegally while at the airports.
Trump said on Monday that if the help from ICE isn’t enough, he’ll deploy the National Guard to airports.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the world’s busiest travel hubs, security lines seemed to be thinning out on Tuesday morning compared to Monday, when lines stretched out terminal doors.
During the peak travel period at 5:30 a.m., ABC News observed a few long lines at Hartsfield-Jackson, but by 7:30 a.m., wait times fell to below normal. But on the airport’s website on Tuesday, travelers were being advised to allow at least four hours or more for domestic and international screening.
Hartsfield-Jackson Manager Ricky Smith told ABC Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV that, with about 40% of the TSA workers calling out sick on Monday, travelers need to allow plenty of time to get through the airport.
“As we progress through this shutdown and call-outs increase, that means TSA can’t process as many passengers as quickly as they can,” Smith said on Monday. “Some passengers are missing flights and so they’re coming in the next day. So, all of that is adding to more congestion, adding to longer lines.”
One traveler, Jason, told WSB-TV that he got to the Hartsfield-Jackson airport seven hours early on Monday for a flight home to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after waiting at the airport to until 1 a.m. Sunday without ever making it past the TSA security checkpoint.
“I’m already missing a day of work right now, and my bosses are not pleased,” he said.
Democrats have blocked funding for DHS, which oversees the TSA and ICE, in an effort to push for policy reforms at ICE, whose aggressive tactics in enforcing immigration laws have prompted protests and lawsuits across the country.
DHS reforms that Democratic lawmakers have proposed include requiring ICE agents not to wear face masks, be equipped with body cameras and have warrants signed by a judge before entering homes and businesses.
Republicans have, so far, rejected those proposals.
Senators on both sides of the aisle have told ABC News that they are feeling increasingly optimistic that a deal to fully fund DHS is on the horizon.
“We do,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, a key negotiator for the Republicans in the DHS funding battle, told reporters on Monday when asked if there was a solution in the works.
Britt’s comments came after she and a group of Republicans met with Trump to discuss a possible solution.
“Democrats and Republicans have been trying to come to some negotiation, and I’m hearing that there is a potential solution,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia.
The lawmakers are scrambling to find a solution before the end of this week, when they are scheduled to go on recess.
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted that if a deal is not struck this week, conditions at airports will get worse.
“If this Homeland Security funding isn’t resolved, I think you’re going to see more TSA agents as we come to Thursday, Friday and Saturday of next week, they’re going to quit, or they’re not going to show up,” he said.
On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines announced it is temporarily suspending “specialty services” for members of Congress — including airport escorts — due to resource constraints from the ongoing partial government shutdown.
“Next to safety, Delta’s no. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment,” the company said in a statement.
In an interview with ABC News at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby had more bad news for the flying public.
He said consumers should be aware that ticket prices are rising and will need to increase about 20% to cover the surging fuel prices.
As United braces for oil prices potentially reaching $175 a barrel due to the conflict in Iran — it stood at $104 on the global market on Tuesday — Kirby urged travelers to lock in planned trips now to take advantage of current fares. United expects fuel to cost the airline an additional $11 billion year over year.
Kirby said the airline is cutting flights with lower demand to offset the increased costs brought on by the war.
Asked about long airport security lines and the deployment of ICE agents to airports, Kirby said he is heading to Washington on Wednesday to push for TSA funding. He believes a deal is very close and that the issue should be resolved soon.
He noted that, despite calls for airlines to fund the TSA themselves, federal law prevents them from doing so. Still, Kirby said he is confident Congress will approve funding imminently.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
ABC News’ Alex Stone, Ayesha Ali and Steve Osunsami contributed to this report.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend The 2005 Wall Street Concert Series on March 15, 2005 in New York City. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ian Maxwell, the brother of convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, is speaking out on his sister’s ongoing effort to overturn her conviction, her recent Congressional deposition, her transfer to a federal prison camp in Texas, and more in a broad interview Tuesday with ABC News.
Ian Maxwell’s comments come a week after his sister invoked the Fifth Amendment during a closed-door virtual deposition before the House Oversight Committee last Monday, where she was asked questions about her relationship with Epstein and her involvement in the late sex offender’s criminal activity.
“The legal advice was absolutely clear. And you need to think about this quite carefully,” Ian Maxwell said of his sister’s decision to not answer the questions, reiterating that she did speak with United States Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July.
“He asked her over two days of questioning several hundred questions. She didn’t fail to answer a single one of those,” he said.
During her interview with Blanche, a former personal attorney for President Donald Trump, Maxwell continued to deny any involvement in Epstein’s sexual exploitation and said she had not witnessed any wrongdoing by any other man — including Trump or former President Bill Clinton. Maxwell was granted limited immunity for the interview as long as she answered questions truthfully.
Ian Maxwell also touched on the possibility of President Trump pardoning his sister, though he noted she had not asked Trump for a pardon. He said the idea that she could exonerate Trump and Clinton of any wrongdoing with her testimony was attributable to a former lawyer of Maxwell’s.
“Ghislaine has not asked President Trump for a pardon. The fact of the matter is that the Epstein scandal is being used by both sides of the aisle to beat the present president and the former president,” he said.
Ian Maxwell also discussed a petition pending in federal court in New York that seeks to overturn her conviction or reduce her sentence.
The petition alleges nine separate grounds — including juror misconduct and government suppression of evidence — for Ghislaine Maxwell’s contention that constitutional violations undermined the integrity of her 2021 trial.
“I am hopeful that the petition will reach the judge presiding over the petition based on the evidence, the evidentiary record,” he said.
In the interview, the British businessman addressed Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer from a federal prison in Florida to a federal prison camp in Texas over the summer.
“Ghislaine is possibly the most notorious prisoner in the U.S. federal system today,” he said. “We know that prison is a very violent place. Jeffrey Epstein died. Ghislaine did have many threats in Tallahassee where she was. It was a notoriously violent and dangerous place for her own safety. She had to be moved.”
At the time of the move, the reason for the transfer was not made clear. FCI Tallahassee in Florida, where Maxwell had been held, is a “low security” prison for men and women, while FPC Bryan is a “minimum security” camp just for women.
Ian Maxwell disputed the idea that his sister was transferred as any sort of reward for protecting Trump.
“President Trump has not done anything wrong. You tell me, have you found anything wrong in the papers yet? I haven’t seen anything there,” he said regarding the recent release of Epstein files by the Justice Department.
Ian Maxwell also discussed the authenticity of a photograph of his sister with the former Prince Andrew and his late accuser Virginia Giuffre.
“I would maintain that Ghislaine continues to have tremendous doubt about the picture that was published and believes that it is not the original and may have been doctored in some way. We don’t know,” said Ian Maxwell, who backs his sister’s stance that she was not responsible for introducing the former prince to Epstein.
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls. In his interview, Ian Maxwell maintained that his sister “did not receive a fair trial” and said that “the verdict is deeply unsafe.”
Ian Maxwell was asked to elaborate on claims made in Ghislaine Maxwell’s pending petition that as many as 25 other men settled claims privately with Epstein accusers.
“The only person who is in jail, the only person whose been tried and found guilty is a woman, my sister,” Ian Maxwell said. “All of these men have disappeared into the ether.”
