The Iranian national football team is set to arrive in North America for the World Cup after finally securing travel documents, but a dispute over U.S. visa approvals continues to cast a shadow over the country's tournament preparations.
According to the Iran Football Federation (IFF), the national team received its visas only 10 days before its opening World Cup match.
While the players have been cleared to travel, Iranian officials say some of the IFF's leadership and support staff remain unable to enter the U.S.
Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim reported that those who had not received visas included Executive Director Mehdi Kharati, Secretary General, Hedayat Mombini, and Media Director Mohsen Motamedkia.
Staff members without visas will travel to Mexico with the team while efforts to obtain visas continue, the agency said.
The IFF said the behaviour of co-hosts the U.S. "contradicts international sports laws" and it would take up the matter with soccer's world governing body FIFA.
"The U.S. government, continuing its hostile actions against the national team ... made a non-sporting and completely political decision to refuse visas for key managerial and administrative members of the Iranian national football team," it said in a statement reported by Iran's state media.
The timing of the visa approvals has added to the challenges facing the team. Iran has been holding its final preparations in Antalya, Türkiye, and confirmed that players and essential team personnel received their travel documents through the Mexican Embassy in Antalya ahead of a planned departure to Mexico.
The squad is expected to base itself in Tijuana, just across the U.S. border from San Diego, before traveling to its matches.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said American authorities would carefully examine members of Iran's traveling party to ensure that only individuals directly connected to the football team are granted access.
"We have no problem with the athletes or their support staff," Rubio said earlier this week. "But what we're not going to allow is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that nature."
The visa controversy had already forced Iran to alter its World Cup plans. The team initially intended to establish a training camp in Tucson, Arizona, but relocated operations to Tijuana amid uncertainty over travel arrangements and entry permissions.
The Iranian team opens its World Cup campaign against New Zealand on 15 June in Inglewood, California, before facing Belgium on 21 June at the same venue. Iran's final group-stage match will be played in Seattle five days later.
A potential knockout-stage meeting between the U.S. and Iran could take place on 3 July in Arlington, Texas, should both nations finish second in their respective groups.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrai...
Maritime trackers received new reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the ...
Indonesian rescuers are searching for 130 people after a passenger ship carrying 243 people sank in the Java Sea following bad weather, while 113 p...
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the weekend BRICS summit, amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, joining a host of foreign dignitaries.
Maritime trackers received new reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), adding to concerns about energy supplies after Saudi Arabia shut down a vital oil pipeline on Saturday.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrainian Railways said that the country's railways were facing systematic attacks for a second day and warned of widespread delays.
Saudi Arabia has temporarily shut down its 1,200-kilometre East-West oil pipeline after it was hit by a drone attack, with Riyadh and Baghdad saying the strike originated from Iraq.
Dubai’s property market has spent years climbing. Now, for the first time since 2021, prices are moving in the opposite direction.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrainian Railways said that the country's railways were facing systematic attacks for a second day and warned of widespread delays.
Indonesian rescuers are searching for 130 people after a passenger ship carrying 243 people sank in the Java Sea following bad weather, while 113 people have been evacuated and six have died, the country’s search and rescue agency said on Sunday.
China will lead the creation of an open source platform among BRICS members to promote cooperation on large language models, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday.
Swedes vote in an election on Sunday (13 September) that could see the far-right enter government for the first time if the country's right-wing parties can form a majority.
Philippine rescuers recovered 41 more charred remains from a ferry fire on Saturday (12 September), taking the death toll to 76, while 13 people remained unaccounted for as forensic teams worked to identify the victims.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment