Photo: Collected

TIJUANA, Mexico, June 7, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Iran's World Cup squad landed in 
Mexico on Sunday under the shadow of a bitter diplomatic row, after the 
United States -- which is in open military conflict with Tehran -- refused to 
issue visas for some team support staff.

The dispute erupted just days before Thursday's kickoff of the 2026 World 
Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

After departing from their training camp in Turkey a day earlier, the Iran 
team landed early Sunday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, AFP 
witnessed.

The team will be based in the city throughout the tournament, despite playing 
their entire group stage in the United States.

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.

Iran's team spent nearly three weeks at a training camp in Antalya, using 
their time in Turkey to apply for visas to travel to Mexico, Canada and the 
United States.

On the eve of their departure for Mexico, the players received their US 
visas, Washington's envoy to Turkey Tom Barrack said on X late Friday.

But Iran's embassy to Turkey said support staff had been denied visas -- 15 
administrative and management staff are concerned, an Iranian diplomat and 
state TV said.

"You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against 
Iran's national football team to its highest level," the embassy wrote 
Saturday on X, calling for world football's governing body FIFA "to hold the 
US accountable for violations of its rules."

Adding to the tensions, Iran's ambassador to Mexico said Saturday 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.

"We can enter in the morning and we must leave the same day," Iran's envoy 
Abolfazl Pasandideh told reporters.

That appeared to contradict what the team's spokesman Amir Mahdi Alavi told 
state TV earlier.

"The 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," Alavi said.

FIFA rules for World Cups stipulate that a team's coach must give a news 
conference on the eve of the match at the venue where the game will be 
played.

- 'Abuse this system' -

Iran's Football Federation -- whose chief Mehdi Taj was reportedly among 
those denied a visa -- has described the decision as "political interference 
in sport in its worst form."

In response, a US administration official confirmed that "the visas necessary 
for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary 
support staff, have been issued."

Without directly addressing the matter of those whose visas were refused, the 
official added: "We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to 
sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses."

In April, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any problem would not be 
with the Iranian players but "some of the other people (they) would want to 
bring with them," suggesting some had ties to the Revolutionary Guards, a 
group on the US terror blacklist.

Taj himself is a former Guards member, Iranian media in the diaspora have 
reported.

The visa row has impacted the Iraqi team as well.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said Saturday that Iraq's 
national team had landed in Chicago on Friday, and that two members were 
subjected to additional screening.

"Following inspection, one traveler was admitted to the United States. The 
second traveler, a photographer and NOT a player on the team, was determined 
to be inadmissible and was denied entry," CBP said in a statement.

The Middle East war erupted when the United States and Israel started bombing 
Iran on February 28. An April 8 ceasefire, which largely halted the fighting, 
has come under strain from recent exchanges of fire.

Iran are in Group G and will play New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on 
June 15 and 21, followed by a game against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.