Iran says staff blocked from entering US after players given World Cup visas
Players were approved, but 14 backroom staff and officials were denied visas, forcing Iran to move its training base and seek FIFA intervention.
- On Saturday, Iran accused World Cup host United States of "discriminatory treatment" after delegation members including executives and analysts were denied entry visas, despite players receiving approval 10 days before the tournament.
- The Iranian embassy in Turkey criticized US envoy Tom Barrack for failing to disclose visa denials to integral "managerial and executive staff, technical advisers, and others," after Barrack had previously praised the Ankara embassy's visa processing work.
- Describing the move as "discriminatory," the Iranian Football Federation alleged that Washington "politicizes sport and undermines equal conditions for all participating teams," warning it will raise the matter with FIFA.
- Previously, Marco Rubio asserted that individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would be barred, while the team relocated its base from Tucson, Arizona, to the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
- Team Melli begins its Group G campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15, followed by matches against Belgium in the same city and Egypt in Seattle on June 27.
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After arriving in Mexico, the Iranian national team objected to the strict conditions surrounding the World Cup tournament.
Plane carrying Iran team lands in Mexico; uncertainty grows over US entry permits
A plane carrying Iran’s World Cup football squad landed early Sunday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, AFP journalists witnessed, after the United States kicked off a bitter diplomatic row over visas. An AFP photographer saw the plane, which departed Turkey with a stop in Spain, land around 5:00 am (1200 GMT) local time in Tijuana, where the Iranian team will be based during the tournament co-hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada. …
The countdown will have taken place until the end. On the night of June 5th, ten days before their entry into the competition, the players of the Iran team finally won the... Read more World Cup 2026: Washington sorts out in the Iranian delegation appeared first on current values.
Tijuana, BC., Although the players of the Iranian football team have already been granted permission to enter the United States on the days that their matches will be played in the World Cup, a group of 15 people – including managers and technical staff, from a 70-member delegation – have not been granted a visa, so the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, asked the International Football Federation (FIFA) to ask the government of …
Iran says the team can enter the United States, but a significant portion of the service staff and management have not received entry permits.
Iran says national team staff denied visas for World Cup
Iran is accusing U.S. officials of denying visas to key staffers on its national soccer team ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off on North American soil next week. It’s the latest diplomatic standoff between the two countries, who have been at war since the U.S. and Israel first launched missiles at Iran in late February. The two sides are yet to agree to a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and sufficiently curtail Tehran…
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