‘We are upset’: Iran players hit out at US visa delay after World Cup arrival in Mexico

Iran’s World Cup 2026 squad landed in Mexico on Sunday amid a bitter diplomatic row, after the United States refused to issue visas for some team support staff.

The Iran coach, Amir Ghalenoei, complained on arrival at Tijuana airport that “we 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 – which I think for us it was not the case.”

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’s side will be based in Tijuana throughout the tournament, despite playing all three of their group-stage games in the US.

Iran’s 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.

The dispute has erupted just days before Thursday’s kick-off of the 2026 World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Ghalenoei thanked world football’s governing body, Fifa, for its efforts to help secure entry, but added: “We are upset about this behaviour. It has certainly never happened before.”

The team captain, Ehsan Hajsafi, said he wanted to convey his grievance to Fifa about the delay in getting US visas. “Why so late?” he demanded. “In the last year, we experienced two imposed wars in our country.” Hajsafi added “the team is 100% ready” and insisted “we can advance” from the group stage.

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

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’s envoy to Turkey, Tom Barrack.

Iran’s 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.

The embassy slammed what it called “deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team” and called for Fifa “to hold the US accountable for violations of its rules.”

Adding to the tensions, Iran’s 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.

“We can enter in the morning and we must leave the same day,” Iran’s envoy, Abolfazl Pasandideh, told reporters. That appeared to contradict what the team’s spokesman, Amir Mahdi Alavi, told Iranian state television earlier.

“The 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,” Alavi said.

Fifa rules for World Cups stipulate that a team’s coach must give a news conference on the eve of the match at the venue where the game will be played.

Iran’s football federation – whose chief, Mehdi Taj, was reportedly among those denied a visa – has described the decision as “political interference in sport in its worst form.”

A US administration official did not directly address the matter of those whose visas were refused, saying only: “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences.”

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