World Cup-2026: Iran says it has not received any American visa
The head of the Iranian Football Federation said on Thursday that no visa has yet been issued to his national team to travel to the United States to participate in the 2026 World Cup.
Iran’s participation in the tournament, scheduled for June 11 to July 19, remains shrouded in uncertainty since the outbreak of war in the Middle East in late February, following strikes by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic.
“Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow we will have a decisive meeting with Fifa. It must provide us with guarantees, because the visa problem is still not resolved,” indicated the president of the Federation, Mehdi Taj, quoted by the Irna agency.
Fifa boss Gianni Infantino has reaffirmed that Iran will play its World Cup matches in the United States as planned.
“We have not received any reports from the other side regarding who has been granted visas. No visa has been issued yet,” Mr. Taj added.
Tehran and Washington have not maintained diplomatic relations since 1980, following the hostage crisis at the American embassy.
According to Taj, players must travel to the Turkish capital, Ankara, to be digitally fingerprinted as part of the visa process.
“We have nothing to do with America. We have qualified for the World Cup and it is up to Fifa to manage the situation of the organizer,” he declared.
For his part, an Iranian minister indicated that “the host country cannot use political differences, sanctions or its own unilateral internal political decisions” to prevent a selection from attending the World Cup.
“If (Fifa) cannot guarantee that all qualified teams, including Iran, can enter the territory of the host country without discrimination or restriction (…), the very credibility of the World Cup will be compromised,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X.
Iran held a farewell ceremony for its national football team on Wednesday, before its departure for the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Team Melli, scheduled to be based in Tucson, Arizona, will face New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in Group G.
AFP
