Iran’s World Cup Team Granted U.S. Visas From Tijuana Ahead of Matches Near Los Angeles

Members of Iran’s World Cup soccer team were granted visas to the United States, two U.S. officials said Friday, clearing them to enter the United States from their training base in Tijuana, Mexico, ahead of their first two matches near Los Angeles this month.

“Iran World Cup players granted visas to enter the US, official says The team will play matches in the U”

ABC News

The team’s participation had been complicated by Iran’s war with Israel and the United States, and problems with processing visas had earlier led Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana.

ABC News

One U.S. official said all players on the Iranian team were approved for visas and were in the process of receiving them, while a second official said visas had been issued for players, coaches, trainers and some support staff.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the visas publicly, and it was not immediately clear when the Iranian team’s passports would be returned, though the official said it could be as early as Friday or Saturday.

Iran plays its first two games in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later, then heads to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that the U.S. would not allow Iran to include in its World Cup delegation individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, saying, "What we're not going to allow is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that nature."

ABC News also quoted Rubio’s testimony framing the monitoring as close scrutiny, adding that he said, "we were going to watch that very closely, and we'll continue to watch that very closely."

Al Jazeera

Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, said late on Thursday the squad had still not received their U.S. visas but these were granted overnight, according to a White House official speaking to Reuters.

The CBC report said the U.S. had not yet issued visas to some members of the Iran team's technical and administrative staff, and it cited Fars news agency for the claim that the U.S. embassy refused to issue them.

The same reporting said Iran’s desire to compete underscored efforts to reach a resolution in the war with Washington, with Pasandideh saying, "Iran's participation in the World Cup — even on the soil of what is seen as its enemy — shows that Iran seeks peace," speaking through a Spanish interpreter at the Iranian embassy in Mexico City.

Al Jazeera said the men’s national team did not expect their participation to hinge on visas being granted by hosts, the United States, only at the last moment, if at all.

“When Iran qualified for the FIFA World Cup last March, the men’s national team didn’t expect their participation to hinge on visas being granted by hosts, the United States, only at the last moment – if at all”

Al Jazeera

The outlet described how President Donald Trump signed an executive order last June halting visa issuance to a handful of countries, including Iran, which the U.S. designated a “state sponsor of terrorism”.

For Iranian football fans, Al Jazeera reported that travelling to the U.S. was “almost impossible” even without the visa challenges or the war, with Ali saying, “Aside from the visa issue, you have to take two- or three-way routes from Tehran to get to the US,”.

Al Jazeera also quoted Byron Pillay saying, “Football is called the Beautiful Game for a reason, for its ability to unite people,” while Riaz Hamed said, “With the stance of America in particular, regarding the treatment of fans and immigrants in the country, I don’t believe it to be entirely safe to attend.”

The same report said the U.S. launched a FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System (PASS) for fans who bought tickets through FIFA, but it does not guarantee a visa, and it referenced a group of nearly 150 Ghana football fans whose visa applications were rejected.