Iran slams US ‘discriminatory treatment’ over World Cup visa refusals
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Backroom staff denied entry visas for US, claims post on X
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Team have moved training base from Arizona to Mexico
Iran has slammed World Cup co-hosts the United States over what it called “discriminatory treatment” by not granting visas for some members of the Iranian national team’s delegation to attend the tournament.
“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 Iranian embassy in Turkey said in a post on X, referring to an earlier announcement by the US envoy Tom Barrack that visas had been granted to players.
“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 those who had not received visas included the executive director Mehdi Kharati, the secretary general of the football federation, Hedayat Mombini, and media director Mohsen Motamedkia. Staff members without visas would travel to Mexico with the team while efforts to obtain visas continue, the agency said.
Iran’s response comes after a White House official said Iran’s players had been granted visas to enter the United States on Friday, just 10 days before their first match in Los Angeles amid the ongoing conflict between the two countries.
Abolfazl Pasandideh, Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, said late on Thursday that the squad had still not received their US visas but these were granted overnight, the White House official said.
A spokesman for the Iranian football federation could not be immediately reached for comment.
Iran negotiated a last-minute move of the team’s base from Arizona to Tijuana in Mexico due to visa issues and a growing feeling in Iran that the squad’s presence in the US should be kept to a minimum. They are scheduled to land in Tijuana early Sunday morning.
Iran are due to play their first Group G match on 15 June against New Zealand in Los Angeles, where they will 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 said.
However, secretary of state Marco Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that the US would not allow Iran to include in their World Cup delegation individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful branch of the Iranian armed forces. Several players in the Iran squad have completed mandatory military service with the group.