Trump says Iran can compete in World Cup, but he does not think it's appropriate for their own safety

US President Donald Trump says Iran's football team is "welcome" to attend this year's World Cup, but adds he doesn't "believe it is appropriate" for them to compete.

In a social media post, Trump says this is "for their own life and safety".

Iran are scheduled to play three group matches in the tournament, which is being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico and gets under way on 11 June.

The team is due to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on 15 and 21 June respectively, and Egypt in Seattle on 26 June.

The county's minister of sports and youth Ahmad Donyamali cast the team's participation into doubt when he said on Tuesday: "Given that this corrupt government has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances do we have the appropriate conditions to participate in the World Cup.

"Our boys are not safe, and conditions for participation do not exist."

But, Fifa President Gianni Infantino - a close friend of Trump - said on Wednesday that he had spoken with the president who he said told him Iran was "welcome" to take part in the tournament.

Meanwhile, BBC Persian has heard from an Iranian woman in Karaj - a city just west of Tehran - who has only just been able to access the internet since the first the war began.

"The atmosphere in Iran is extremely suffocating. It has always been oppressive but now fear and terror have been added to it," she says.

"On the first day, when the war started, most of us woke up to the sound of explosions. About an hour later the internet was cut off, and we kept following the news through satellite TV," she says.

Lines for petrol started that same day, she says, and paramilitaries linked to the regime quickly appeared on the streets.

Late that night, it was announced the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed, and "all the neighbours were celebrating from their balconies or windows", she says, before paramilitaries returned and people fell silent.

"Every day we receive many SMS messages - warnings, threats, or false news. And every night supporters of the government organise mourning or celebration processions. The whole situation feels like nothing in this country belongs to us, as if we are strangers in our own city," she says.