{"id":488438,"date":"2026-06-08T04:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T04:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/488438\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T04:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T04:01:09","slug":"we-are-upset-iran-players-hit-out-at-us-visa-delay-after-world-cup-arrival-in-mexico-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/488438\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are upset\u2019: Iran players hit out at US visa delay after World Cup arrival in Mexico \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s World Cup 2026<\/a> squad landed in Mexico on Sunday amid a bitter diplomatic row, after the United States refused to issue visas for some team support staff.<\/p>\n

The Iran coach, Amir Ghalenoei, complained on arrival at Tijuana airport that \u201cwe should have been here last week because a 12-hour time difference needs two weeks of adjusting. Usually in these tournaments, before technical matters, ethical and human considerations must be respected \u2013 which I think for us it was not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

After departing from their training camp in Turkey a day earlier, the Iran team landed around 5am (1pm BST) on Sunday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana. Ghalenoei\u2019s side will be based in Tijuana throughout the tournament, despite playing all three of their group-stage games in the US.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s players and coaching staff left their plane amid tight security which included a contingent of Mexican national guard troops. Just a handful of fans waving Iranian flags were present at the airport to welcome them from a distance.<\/p>\n

The dispute has erupted just days before Thursday\u2019s kick-off of the 2026 World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n

Ghalenoei thanked world football\u2019s governing body, Fifa, for its efforts to help secure entry, but added: \u201cWe are upset about this behaviour. It has certainly never happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team captain, Ehsan Hajsafi, said he wanted to convey his grievance to Fifa about the delay in getting US visas. \u201cWhy so late?\u201d he demanded. \u201cIn the last year, we experienced two imposed wars in our country.\u201d Hajsafi added \u201cthe team is 100 per cent ready\u201d and insisted \u201cwe can advance\u201d from the group stage.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Group G games will be held in Los Angeles (against New Zealand on June 15th and Belgium on June 21st) and in Seattle (against Egypt on June 26th). This will be the first men\u2019s football World Cup to see a host nation receive the team of a country it is at war with.<\/p>\n

The squad spent nearly three weeks at the training camp in Turkey, using their time there to apply for visas to travel to Mexico, Canada and the United States. On the eve of their departure, the players finally received their US visas, according to Washington\u2019s envoy to Turkey, Tom Barrack.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s embassy in Turkey said support staff had been denied visas, however. Fifteen administrative and management staff are concerned, an Iranian diplomat and state TV said.<\/p>\n

The embassy slammed what it called \u201cdeliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran\u2019s national football team\u201d and called for Fifa \u201cto hold the US accountable for violations of its rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to the tensions, Iran\u2019s ambassador to Mexico said on Saturday the squad had been notified that, under their visa conditions, the team must enter and leave US soil on the same day as their matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can enter in the morning and we must leave the same day,\u201d Iran\u2019s envoy, Abolfazl Pasandideh, told reporters. That appeared to contradict what the team\u2019s spokesman, Amir Mahdi Alavi, told Iranian state television earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe visas issued for the national team are multiple-entry visas, and the national team will arrive at the match venue one day before the first game and, for the following games, two days prior to each match,\u201d Alavi said.<\/p>\n

Fifa rules for World Cups stipulate that a team\u2019s coach must give a news conference on the eve of the match at the venue where the game will be played.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s football federation \u2013 whose chief, Mehdi Taj, was reportedly among those denied a visa \u2013 has described the decision as \u201cpolitical interference in sport in its worst form.\u201d<\/p>\n

A US administration official did not directly address the matter of those whose visas were refused, saying only: \u201cWe will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences.\u201d \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s World Cup 2026 squad landed in Mexico on Sunday amid a bitter diplomatic row, after the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2956,61,11829,60,112,4018],"class_list":["post-488438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-fifa","tag-ie","tag-iran","tag-ireland","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}