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Iran accused the United States on Friday of blocking visas for key members of its national football team's backroom staff, hours after Washington announced that Iranian players had been cleared to travel to the World Cup.
US officials said visas had been issued to players and what they described as "necessary support staff." The announcement came 10 days before Iran's opening fixture, scheduled for June 15 in Los Angeles.
Iran's embassy in Turkey quickly pushed back. A statement from the embassy accused the US of "politically biased interference in sport" and said the denials affected a "large portion of the managerial and executive staff" and "technical advisers." The embassy called the US announcement a "whitewash" and said the situation represented deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran's national football team brought to "its highest level."
According to BBC News, Iranian state-linked media reported that the head of the football federation and his deputy were among those denied entry.
Iranian embassy officials called on FIFA, football's world governing body, to intervene.
The US also said in its announcement that Iran would not be allowed to "abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences." Earlier this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that Iran's football delegation would not include individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, a powerful branch of the Iranian armed forces. Several players in the Iranian squad have completed mandatory military service with that group.
The 2026 World Cup is jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico and begins on June 11. Iran secured their spot by finishing top of their qualification group in March 2025, nearly a year before war broke out between Iran and the US and Israel. The tournament will be the first in which a host nation receives the team of a country it is at war with.
In late May, Iran moved its training base from Tucson, Arizona to Mexico. Beyond their opener in Los Angeles, Iran is also scheduled to play Belgium in California and Egypt in Seattle.
