Iran's World Cup Squad Belatedly Granted US Visas But Some Staff Blocked

Via Middle East Eye

Members of Iran's World Cup 2026 administrative staff have not been given visas to enter the United States, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

According to US officials, while Iranian footballers have been granted visas for the tournament, which begins on Thursday in Mexico, some support staff are reportedly not being allowed to join the squad.

On Friday, a White House official told Reuters that the players had received their visas, after Iran's ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, said on Thursday that they had not.

Iran plays its first match on June 16 against New Zealand in Los Angeles, California. Its participation in the tournament has been the subject of much speculation after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran at the end of February.

Negotiations between the US and Iran are continuing, but both sides have continued to fire on enemy targets.

Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim reported that the Iranian staff not granted visas include Mehdi Kharati, the executive director; Hedayat Mombini, the secretary general of the football federation; and Mohsen Motamedkia, media director.

Staff members without visas will travel to Mexico with the team while efforts to obtain the documents continue, Tasnim said.

Tehran negotiated a last-minute move of the team's base from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, due to the visa issues and a growing feeling in Iran that the squad’s presence in the US should be kept to a minimum.

The team is scheduled to land in Tijuana on Sunday. After facing New Zealand, Iran will play Belgium in Los Angeles and Egypt in Seattle.

The US has never formally said it did not want the Iran team to stay on its territory, Pasandideh said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, told lawmakers on Tuesday that the US would not allow Iran to include in its delegation people linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Mehdi Taj, a former IRGC commander and now president of Iran's football federation, was denied entry for the tournament draw in Washington in December. 

"Iran's participation in the World Cup - even on the soil of what is seen as its enemy - shows that Iran seeks peace," Pasandideh said through a Spanish interpreter at the Iranian embassy in Mexico City.