{"id":722692,"date":"2026-06-24T06:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T06:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/722692\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T06:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T06:32:14","slug":"irans-world-cup-team-has-us-travel-restrictions-eased","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/722692\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran’s World Cup team has US travel restrictions eased"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. is easing its restrictions on Iran\u2019s World Cup team,<\/a> allowing the squad to travel into the country two days before its next match, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The team will still be required to leave after Friday\u2019s match in Seattle, a department spokesperson said. A spokesperson for the Iran Football Federation confirmed that the team will leave its base camp in Tijuana, Mexico,<\/a> on Wednesday for Seattle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was planned on our end,\u201d Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told The Associated Press. \u201cWe were going to look at how the first two movements went, and if they went smoothly, we would extend the extra day in light of the longer travel time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy change was first reported by NBC News and comes as officials from both countries negotiate<\/a> over how to end the war in Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s squad has complained about the travel restrictions levied on the team, and the challenges it has faced since the outbreak of war. Iran in March sought to move its group-stage matches to Mexico<\/a>, with which it has diplomatic ties. Its request to move its base camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana was granted two weeks before the team\u2019s arrival. Several team officials and members of the support staff have been barred from traveling into the U.S. with the team.<\/p>\n

For the first two matches, near Los Angeles, the team was not permitted to travel until the day before. Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei repeatedly said that restriction disadvantaged the team, especially when it had less than 24 hours on the ground before its noon match Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we need recovery more than anything,\u201d Ghalenoei said through an interpreter after the 0-0 draw against Belgium. \u201cThe conditions have been extremely hard for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not uncommon for teams to travel<\/a> a day before the match, and it\u2019s in line with FIFA regulations, which state that \u201ceach team shall travel from its team base camp to the match venue one day before matchday (MD\u20111) and in exceptional cases on MD\u20112, and shall return to their team base camp after the match (on MD\/MD+1).\u201d<\/p>\n

But Iran had asked for more time to acclimate to host cities and recover after matches, especially for the 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) trip to Seattle. The team is scheduled to train on Thursday at the University of Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t ask for much. We just ask for the same procedure as for all the other 47 teams,\u201d Iran captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh said Sunday. \u201cHopefully we can bring everyone who is involved and help us with us.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Iran team has also said it experienced difficulties entering and exiting the U.S. each time it made the 127-mile (204-kilometer) flight between Tijuana and Los Angeles. The typically short trip took five hours the day before its first match against New Zealand, team captain Mehdi Taremi said. <\/p>\n

Hours before Sunday\u2019s match against Belgium, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News the Iranians had \u201ctried to get somebody in yesterday\u201d who had direct ties to Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard. In a statement, the soccer federation vociferously pushed back, calling the claim \u201can outright and undeniable lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s players and coaches have mostly steered clear of outright commentary on the war. \u201cWe are here for football, not politics,\u201d Ghalenoei said Saturday. But the team hasn\u2019t shied from highlighting the victims of a deadly missile strike<\/a> on an elementary school at the start of the war in the Middle East, likely launched by the U.S.<\/p>\n

Players wore gold-colored pins with the number \u201c168\u201d<\/a> on their jackets when they disembarked in Mexico on June 7, referencing the number of people killed in the attack, mostly young girls. They left a goodbye note in the locker room at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, after their match Sunday, calling for peace \u201camong all nations\u201d and with the hashtags #168 and #minab, the school\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

At Iran\u2019s last training session Tuesday in Tijuana before departing for Seattle, four small flags had been stuck into the turf, each bearing the number 168. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether Iran\u2019s upcoming opponent, Egypt, will also be allowed to arrive in Seattle two days early. After its 3-1 victory against New Zealand in Vancouver Sunday, Egypt asked to fly directly to Seattle. FIFA denied that request, citing a lack of security resources to accommodate the last-minute demand. Egypt returned to its base camp in Spokane, Washington, a 45-minute flight from Seattle.<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s national team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer John Marshall contributed reporting and AP video journalist Javier Arciga contributed reporting from Tijuana, Mexico.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. is easing its restrictions on Iran\u2019s World Cup team, allowing the squad to travel into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[304379,276777,1927,14271,7183,8363,793,801,237696,228242,3140,26,1839,156118,403,99,3770,795,2003,2002,800,965],"class_list":["post-722692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-amir-ghalenoei","tag-andrew-giuliani","tag-ap-top-news","tag-central-america","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-general-news","tag-iran","tag-iran-national-soccer-team","tag-iran-war","tag-latin-america","tag-mexico","tag-seattle","tag-seattle-redhawks","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-u-s-department-of-homeland-security","tag-u-s-news","tag-wa-state-wire","tag-washington","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}