Iran’s World Cup squad touches down in Mexico amid ongoing ‘vindictive’ visa feud with Trump’s US government

Iran’s World Cup squad has landed in Mexico amid a bitter diplomatic row after the United States refused to issue visas to some team support staff.

The dispute erupted just days before the first match of the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada on Thursday.

The Iranian team landed in the Mexican border city of Tijuana early Sunday after leaving the training camp in Türkiye a day earlier.

The team will be based in the city throughout the tournament, although they will play all of the group stages in the United States.

When they play in the United States, it will be the first World Cup in which the host country has fielded a team from a country with which it is at war.

The Iranian team spent nearly three weeks at a training camp in Antalya and used their time in Türkiye to apply for visas to Mexico, Canada and the United States.

The Iranian team landed in the Mexican border city of Tijuana early Sunday

The players were all smiles as they headed to their bases for the North American tournament

Washington’s envoy to Türkiye, Tom Barrack, said late Friday that the players had received their US visas on the eve of their departure to Mexico.

However, an Iranian diplomat and state television said that support staff of Iran’s embassy in Türkiye were not given visas, and 15 administrative and administrative staff were concerned.

The country’s football association has accused the US government of ‘vindictive behaviour’ by refusing to issue visas to ‘key executive and administrative members’ of the team.

“You have maximized deliberate and discriminatory treatment against the Iran national football team,” the embassy wrote on X on Saturday, calling on world football’s governing body FIFA to “hold the United States accountable for violations of its own rules.”

Iran’s ambassador to Mexico said on Saturday that the team had been informed that they must enter and leave U.S. territory on the same day as their matches, per visa requirements.

“We can enter in the morning and we must leave on the same day,” Iran’s envoy Abolfazl Pasandideh told reporters.

This appeared to contradict what the team’s spokesman, Amir Mehdi Alavi, had previously told state television.

Alavi said, “The visas given to the national team are multiple entry visas and the national team will arrive at the match field one day before the first match and two days before each match in the following matches.”

FIFA’s rules for World Cups stipulate that a team’s coach must hold a press conference on the eve of a match at the venue where the match will be played.

The Iranian Football Federation, whose president Mehdi Taj was among those whose visas were rejected, described the decision as ‘political interference in sports at its worst’.

Ehsan Hajisafi and his teammates must enter and leave US territory on the same day as their matches

Iranian fans gathered outside the airport to greet the team as they headed towards their base

While players received US visas, Iranian support staff were denied visas

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

Without directly addressing the issue of those whose visas were denied, 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 problems were not with Iranian players but “some other people (they) would want to bring with them” and suggested some had ties to the Revolutionary Guard, a group on the US terror blacklist.

Iranian media in the diaspora reported that Taj himself was a former Guard member.

The visa debate also affected the Iraq team.

The Iraq national team landed in Chicago on Friday and two members were subjected to additional screening, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Saturday.

‘A traveler was admitted to the United States following inspection. The second traveler, who was 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 broke out when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran on February 28. The ceasefire on April 8, which largely stopped the clashes, has been under pressure due to the recent clashes.

Iran is in Group G and will play New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on June 15 and 21, then face Egypt in Seattle on June 26.