Friday, May 29, 2026 - Iran's ambassador to Mexico has revealed that the country's national football team still lacks US visas and is not competing in the World Cup on “equal terms” because of difficulties training ahead of the tournament.
Ambassador Abolfazl Pasandideh visited the north-western
Mexican border city of Tijuana, where Iranians have relocated their
training camp. They were originally planned to be based in Tucson, in the
US state of Arizona.
The ambassador told a news conference that “the country to
the north” – meaning the US – had not followed through on its responsibility of
hosting the Iranian team.
“We don’t know whether or not they’re going to give the
players their visas,” he added.
Iran will play their three World Cup group games in two West
Coast US cities: Los Angeles and Seattle. The head of the Iranian Football
Federation has said it was hoping players would be granted multiple-entry
visas.
“We aren’t participating in the World Cup on equal terms,”
Mr Pasandideh said.
“We haven’t been able to train our team like they should,”
he added, because of the war in the Middle East that began on Feb 28.
Iran is due to play in Los Angeles on June 15 against New
Zealand, on June 21 against Belgium, and in Seattle against Egypt on June 26.
In other news, the United States, Mexico, and Canada on
Thursday announced aligned public health travel measures for people coming from
African regions at the greatest risk from Ebola, they said in a joint
statement, as they aim to protect citizens and visitors during the World Cup.
“The health and safety of every person in the region remains
our highest priority as we welcome the world to North America,” they said in
the statement, which did not detail the aligned measures.
The World Health Organization on May 17 declared an Ebola
outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a Public Health Emergency of
International Concern and said there was a high risk it could spread to
neighboring countries.
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