Iran’s soccer stars touched down just miles from the California border Sunday as they arrived in Tijuana ahead of a politically charged World Cup campaign with two blockbuster matches in Los Angeles.
Photos showed members of national team arriving in the Mexico border city after an overnight flight from Turkey, where the squad had spent the past three weeks training for the tournament.
The team landed shortly after 5 a.m. in the town across from San Diego, which will serve as their base throughout the World Cup.
Federation officials briefly waved as military and police escorts then accompanied the squad to a Marriott hotel in Tijuana, Reuters reported.
Iran is scheduled to play New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15 before returning to Southern California to face Belgium on June 21.
The team will then travel to Seattle for a June 26 showdown with Egypt. But the journey to North America was anything but straightforward.
Iran’s football federation shifted the team’s base camp from Arizona to Mexico at the last minute amid uncertainty over U.S. visas and concerns in Tehran that the squad limit its presence on American soil, according to Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh.
After weeks of skepticism, U.S. authorities approved visas for Iranian players on Friday—just 10 days before the team’s opening match. The dispute, however, didn’t end there.
Iran’s football federation said several members of its delegation, including key managerial and administrative staff, were denied visas. Pasandideh said 15 of the 70 members of the traveling party who arrived in Tijuana were still unable to enter the United States.
The U.S. State Department said it had issued “the visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff.”
“We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the U.S. under false pretenses,” the official added.
Iranian football federation president Mehdi Taj blasted the delays, accusing Washington of unfair treatment.
“We do not know how far the Americans’ obstructionism will continue,” Taj stated.
“What the United States is doing reflects malice and a lack of equality among teams.”
The backdrop has turned what would normally be a straightforward World Cup arrival into a diplomatic flashpoint.
“It has become a lose-lose for the players,” Abbas Milani, director of Iranian studies at Stanford University, told the outlet. “There are pressures on players not to play with the team, pressure to show comity with the people, and the athletes are just there to play soccer.”
The scrutiny could intensify if Iran and the United States both finish second in their groups, setting up a potential meeting in the tournament’s round of 32.
At the same time, Iraq is running into its own set of hurdles in the U.S. as the games approach.
Iraq’s World Cup striker Aymen Hussein was held and questioned for nearly seven hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport after arriving with the squad early Saturday, said an Iraqi official.
While Hussein was eventually granted entry, the team’s photographer was barred from entering, according to Reuters.
“National team photographer Talal Salah was held for more than 10 hours, underwent similar phone checks, and was ultimately denied entry into the United States,” the official added.
Iraq is returning to the World Cup for the first time since making its debut 40 years ago.
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