Iran’s national football team arrived in Mexico on Sunday ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup amid growing tensions over a visa dispute with the United States, which is currently engaged in a military conflict with Tehran.
The controversy emerged only days before the tournament begins on Thursday. The World Cup is being co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
After completing a training camp in Antalya, Turkey, the Iranian squad travelled to the Mexican border city of Tijuana, where it landed early Sunday, according to AFP.
Although all of Iran’s group-stage fixtures will be played in the United States, the team will remain based in Tijuana throughout the competition.
The tournament will mark a rare situation in which a World Cup host nation welcomes a team from a country with which it is actively at war.
Iran had spent nearly three weeks preparing in Turkey while players and officials sought visas for entry into the United States, Mexico and Canada.
On Friday, shortly before the team’s departure, Washington’s envoy to Turkey, Tom Barrack, announced on X that the players had received their US visas.
However, a dispute quickly followed after Iran’s embassy in Turkey revealed that several members of the delegation had been denied entry documents.
According to Iranian state television and a diplomat, 15 administrative and management officials were affected.
“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.”
Further uncertainty emerged over the travel conditions attached to the visas. Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, said the team had been informed it could only enter the United States on matchdays and would be required to leave immediately after each game.
“We can enter in the morning, and we must leave the same day,” Iran’s envoy Abolfazl Pasandideh told reporters.
His remarks appeared to differ from information provided earlier by the team’s spokesman, Amir Mahdi Alavi.
“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.
The issue has drawn attention because FIFA regulations require national team coaches to hold pre-match press conferences at the venues where games are scheduled, typically on the eve of the fixture.
Iran’s Football Federation, whose president Mehdi Taj was reportedly among those refused visas, condemned the development and described it as “political interference in sport in its worst form.”
Responding to the criticism, a US administration official maintained that all essential travel documents had been granted.
“The visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued.”
Without directly commenting on the individuals who were denied visas, the official added: “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”
Concerns about members of the Iranian delegation had previously been raised by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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Speaking in April, Rubio suggested the issue was not related to the players themselves but to other individuals travelling with the team, some of whom were alleged to have links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, which the United States designates as a terrorist organisation.
Iranian diaspora media have reported that Football Federation president Mehdi Taj is a former member of the Revolutionary Guards.
The visa controversy has also affected Iraq’s World Cup delegation.
According to a statement released Saturday by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Iraq’s national team arrived in Chicago on Friday, where two members of the travelling party underwent 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 broader conflict in the Middle East began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran.
Although an April 8 ceasefire significantly reduced hostilities, recent exchanges of fire have placed the truce under pressure.
Iran have been drawn in Group G and are scheduled to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on June 15 and June 21 respectively, before taking on Egypt in Seattle on June 26.