Iran has accused the United States of “discriminatory treatment” after visas were denied to a large portion of its national team’s backroom staff, forcing the squad to move its training base from Arizona to Mexico just days before their opening World Cup match.
The Iranian embassy in Turkey posted on X: “Why do you not say that visas were denied to a large portion of the managerial and executive staff, technical advisers, and others who are an integral part of any national football team?” The post referred to an earlier announcement by US envoy Tom Barrack that visas had been granted to players.
“Iran accused the US of discriminatory treatment after denying visas to backroom staff for the World Cup.”
“You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level,” the embassy added.
Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim reported that among those denied entry were the executive director Mehdi Kharati, the secretary general of the football federation, Hedayat Mombini, and media director Mohsen Motamedkia. Iranian state television said secretary-general Hedayat Mombeini and vice president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi were among 14 backroom staff and officials still awaiting US visas. It was unclear whether the federation’s president, Mehdi Taj, had been issued one.
The visa crisis prompted a last-minute relocation of the team’s training base from Tucson, Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, where the squad is due to land early on Sunday after training sessions in Turkey this week. Staff members without visas will travel to Mexico while efforts to obtain them continue, Tasnim said.
On Friday, a White House official confirmed that visas had been granted for Iran’s players to enter the United States, just 10 days before their first match in Los Angeles. “The visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued,” officials said, adding that the US would not allow the team to “abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses”.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that Iran’s football delegation would not be allowed to include individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a powerful branch of the Iranian armed forces. Several players in the Iranian squad have completed mandatory military service with the group.
One US official suggested that some applicants affiliated with the team had been rejected for requesting visas “under false pretenses”. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, said late on Thursday that the squad had still not received their US visas, but these were granted overnight. The Iranian football federation has not publicly commented on the approvals.
Iran are scheduled to play New Zealand in Los Angeles on 15 June, then face Belgium on 21 June, before taking on Egypt in Seattle on 26 June. The US has never formally said it did not want the Iran team to stay on its territory, ambassador Pasandideh noted, but the escalating dispute leaves the delegation fractured as they prepare for a tournament complicated by war.