{"id":7121,"date":"2026-06-07T15:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/irans-world-cup-squad-lands-in-mexico-amid-us-visa-row\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T15:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:36:16","slug":"irans-world-cup-squad-lands-in-mexico-amid-us-visa-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/irans-world-cup-squad-lands-in-mexico-amid-us-visa-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s World Cup squad lands in Mexico amid US visa row"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

Iranian delegation arrives at their World Cup base camp a day after several members were denied visas by the US.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Iran\u2019s World Cup squad has landed in Tijuana, Mexico ahead of the World Cup \u2013 amid a diplomatic row with cohosts United States, which is at war with Tehran and has refused visas for several members of the Iranian delegation.<\/p>\n

The squad touched down shortly after 5am (1200 GMT) in the Mexican city, across the border from San Diego in California, after \u200can overnight flight from Turkiye, where they have been training for the past three weeks.<\/p>\n

The Iranian football federation negotiated at the last minute to move the team\u2019s base camp from Arizona to Mexico, due in part \u2060to uncertainty over whether \u2060they would be granted visas to enter the US.<\/p>\n

The US awarded visas to all the players on Friday, just \u206010 days before their first match, but several members of the \u2060support squad were not \u2060given visas, including \u201ckey managerial and administrative members,\u201d according to the federation.<\/p>\n

The dispute comes days before the tournament kicks off on Thursday, when Mexico play South Africa in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

Iran will be based in the city throughout the tournament, despite playing their entire group stage on the US West Coast.<\/p>\n

When they do play in the US, it will be the first World Cup to see a host nation receive the team of a country it is at war with.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hold the US accountable\u2019<\/h2>\n

Iran\u2019s team spent nearly three weeks at a training camp in Antalya, using their time in Turkiye to apply for visas for the three host nations.<\/p>\n

On the eve of their departure for Mexico, the players received their US visas, Washington\u2019s envoy to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, said on X late on Friday.<\/p>\n

But Iran\u2019s embassy to Turkiye said 15 administrative and management staff had been denied visas.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran\u2019s national football team to its highest level,\u201d the embassy posted on X on Saturday, calling for world football\u2019s governing body FIFA \u201cto hold the US accountable for violations of its rules\u201d.<\/p>\n

Adding to the tensions, Iran\u2019s ambassador to Mexico said on Saturday that the squad had been notified that under their visa conditions the team must enter and leave US soil on the same day as their matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can enter in the morning and we must leave the same day,\u201d Iran\u2019s envoy Abolfazl Pasandideh told reporters.<\/p>\n

That appeared to contradict what the team\u2019s spokesman Amir Mahdi Alavi told state TV earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe visas issued for the national team are multiple-entry visas, and the national team will arrive at the match venue one day before the first game and, for the following games, two days prior to each match,\u201d Alavi said.<\/p>\n

FIFA rules for World Cups stipulate that a team\u2019s coach must give a news conference on the eve of the match at the venue where the game will be played.<\/p>\n

\"INTERACTIVE-Football
(Al Jazeera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Political interference\u2019<\/h2>\n

Iran\u2019s Football Federation \u2013 whose chief Mehdi Taj was reportedly among those denied a visa \u2013 has described the decision as \u201cpolitical interference in sport in its worst form\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response, a US administration official confirmed that \u201cthe visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without directly addressing the matter of those whose visas were refused, the official added: \u201cWe will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any problem would not be with the Iranian players but \u201csome of the other people (they) would want to bring with them,\u201d suggesting some had ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is on the US blacklist of \u201cterrorist\u201d groups.<\/p>\n

Iran are in Group G and will play New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on June 15 and 21, followed by Egypt in Seattle on June 26.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iranian delegation arrives at their World Cup base camp a day after several members were denied visas by the US. Iran\u2019s World Cup squad has landed in Tijuana, Mexico ahead of the World Cup \u2013 amid a diplomatic row with cohosts United States, which is at war with Tehran and has refused visas for several … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}