President Trump provides Iran update, standing alongside Lionel Messi

President Donald Trump gave thanks to the U.S. military and provided an update on the ongoing action in Iran on Thursday, standing alongside Lionel Messi and the rest of the Inter Miami team during a high-profile White House visit.

The event had been trailed in recent weeks, with Trump becoming the latest president to welcome the MLS Cup champions to the White House. Events in the Middle East have taken the headlines in the last week and Trump began the Inter Miami event by providing an update on the military action.

Trump stood in front of the Miami team and club officials while giving the address, doing so in front of a packed audience at the White House. After covering the current affairs, Trump moved onto the soccer and paid particular attention to one of the Inter Miami stars.

“And it is my privilege to say, what no American president has had the chance to say before, welcome to the White House, Lionel Messi,” Trump began. “[My son Baron] is a big fan of yours, a big soccer fan and he’s a big fan of yours. And a gentleman called Ronaldo.”

Trump paid tribute to Inter Miami’s participation at the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States, where they became the first MLS team to beat a European side in a competitive fixture. Miami beat Porto 2-1 in last year’s tournament, with Messi scoring the winner with an inch-perfect free kick. Trump then invited Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas to speak and he too paid tribute to Messi.

“Seven years ago Inter Miami was nothing but an idea and a dream. I remember after speaking to Commissioner Garber we sat in the conference room of our business in Miami, and we said, ‘What do we do now?’ Mas said. ”And at that time I told myself what many people thought was impossible: ‘We’re going to bring the world’s greatest player to play in Miami,’ and that was in 2019. And today you have the world’s greatest player, standing here to my right."

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