One week before World Cup kickoff, Iran still awaits US visas

Iran's World Cup squad is set to arrive in Mexico on Sunday, with players and staff still awaiting US visas just one week before the tournament gets underway. The players, who have been attending a training camp in the Turkish resort of Antalya since 18 May, have yet to receive clearance to enter the United States. "The Iran national football team will depart Antalya for Tijuana at 15:20 (1220 GMT) on Saturday, June 6, and is scheduled to arrive in Mexico at 1:30 am (0730 GMT) on Sunday, June 7," a team statement said on Wednesday. Iran's training base was initially planned for Tucson, Arizona, but was relocated to Tijuana, Mexico, at the request of the Iranian football federation due to security concerns linked to ongoing tensions in the Middle East following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Tehran on 28 February. The move also created the need for additional visas. On Monday evening, Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) president Mehdi Taj said the squad was expected to receive visas for Mexico on Tuesday or Wednesday and that "then a US visa will be issued quickly". However, no confirmation has since been provided. According to the Associated Press , members of Iran's support staff travelled to Ankara to submit visa applications at the US embassy. The team is not required to enter the United States until 14 June, one day before its opening match against New Zealand at the Los Angeles Rams' stadium in Inglewood. The visa issue has been particularly sensitive for Iran after an FFIRI delegation was turned away from Toronto's Pearson International Airport and missed a pre-World Cup FIFA gathering in Vancouver in April. The delegation, which included Taj, returned to Iran despite holding valid visas, citing what was claimed as the "unacceptable behaviour of immigration officials". However, statements from the Canadian government indicated that Taj was denied entry because of alleged links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after Canada designated the group as a terrorist organisation in 2024. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the Iranian delegation would be closely scrutinised for anyone with ties to the IRGC. "We have no problem with the athletes, as we stated earlier, or their support staff," Rubio said during a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. "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. "So we were going to watch that very closely, and we'll continue to watch that very closely, but by and large, I don't anticipate that problem with any other country." In nearly 100 years of the World Cup, a host nation has never been at war with a participating country. Iran's Team Melli have been drawn in Group G and will face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on 15 and 21 June, before taking on Egypt in Seattle on 26 June. Following the launch of the Iran war, a development Taj said "changed everything" for Team Melli's World Cup preparations. Taj has also said the team's preparations have been hampered by "financial difficulties" stemming from Iran's economic crisis and the sharp depreciation of the rial against the US dollar.