Iran has accused the United States of denying entry visas to at least 15 members of its national football team's backroom staff, even as Washington confirmed that all players had been granted clearance to travel to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The dispute has added a fresh layer of tension to one of the most diplomatically fraught participations in the tournament's history.
US officials said on Friday that visas had been issued to all players and "necessary support staff," warning that they would not allow Iran to "abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences." Iran's embassy in Turkey rejected that framing, condemning what it called "politically biased interference in sport" and saying a "large portion" of the delegation — including the head of the football federation, his deputy, and a media director — had been refused entry. Iranian state media named 15 administration officials among those denied visas, while the team itself departed its training base in Turkey on Saturday, bound for Tijuana, the Mexican border city that has replaced Tucson, Arizona, as Iran's tournament base.
The restrictions go further than the visa dispute. Iran's ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, confirmed that under the conditions attached to the squad's visas, players and staff must enter and leave the United States on the same day as each of their three group-stage matches — a logistical constraint with no modern precedent at a World Cup. Iran face New Zealand in Los Angeles on 15 June, then Belgium also in Los Angeles on 21 June, before concluding their group stage against Egypt in Seattle on 26 June.
The standoff reflects the wider rupture between Washington and Tehran. The 2026 World Cup is being co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, and Iran secured their place by finishing top of their qualification group in March 2025 — nearly a year before a conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran broke out. A ceasefire agreed on 8 April eventually allowed the matches to proceed on American soil, though Iranian officials had earlier threatened a boycott and pushed for their games to be relocated entirely to Mexico. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that no members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful branch of the Iranian armed forces, would be permitted to join the delegation; several Iranian players have completed mandatory military service with the organisation.
Iran's embassy has called on FIFA, football's world governing body, to intervene. The US Department of Homeland Security said it remained "steadfast" in its commitment to security at all 11 host cities but did not specify what additional restrictions, if any, would apply to the Iranian delegation once on American soil. The situation marks the first time in World Cup history that a host nation has been at war with one of the competing teams.