Did New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani only put Iran's flag on New York subway trains? No, that's not true: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which serves New York City, Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut, decorated trains to represent each of the 48 countries competing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Each train features the colors of a competing nation's flag alongside the Statue of Liberty.
The implied claim appeared in a post (archived here) by @atensnut on X on July 5, 2026. It read:
Why did this Muslim Ba*tard have the MTA train wrapped in Irans [sic] flag?
New York has a severe problem with this mayor dude. 🤬🤬🤬
This is what the images in the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @atensnut on X.)
WNBC-TV reported (archived here) on June 9, 2026, that New York City would celebrate the World Cup by wrapping MTA subway trains in designs inspired by the 48 competing countries. The trains, created in partnership with the FIFA World Cup 2026 NYNJ Host Committee and the MTA, were rolled out across all five New York City boroughs and feature country colors alongside the Statue of Liberty torch. Officials said the project was meant to reflect the city's excitement and its welcome to fans from around the world. This is the train celebrating France:
(Image source: NYC Mayor's Office on WNBC website.)
This is the Senegal train:
(Image source: NY/NJ World Cup Host Committee.)
This is the Norway train:
(Image source: post by Glum_Distribution816 on Reddit.)
The City of New York website (archived here) also detailed which trains would be wrapped and by which countries. The participating train lines and countries included:
- R Train: Morocco, Brazil
- 1 Train: Senegal, France
- 2 Train: Norway, Senegal
- 6 Train: Panama, England
- 7 Train: Ecuador, Germany
- 4 Train: Japan, Croatia, Canada, Tunisia, Portugal, Haiti, Switzerland, Uzbekistan, Ghana, United States
- A Train: Spain, Scotland, Saudi Arabia, DR Congo, Australia, United States, Cape Verde, Netherlands, Jordan, Sweden
- E Train: Colombia, Egypt, Algeria, Uruguay, New Zealand, Türkiye, Iraq, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, Czechia
- F Train: Argentina, South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Paraguay, South Korea, Iran, Mexico, Belgium, Qatar
A post (archived here) by the New York City Photos on Facebook on June 26, 2026, shows several of the World Cup teams:
