Iran National Football Team [Reuters=Yonhap News] 

With the war with the United States not yet concluded, Iran is strongly protesting after staff members of the Iranian football team, set to compete in the 2026 North, Central American, and Caribbean World Cup, were denied U.S. entry visas.

Earlier, Reuters reported, citing a White House official, that U.S. entry visas were issued to Iranian national team players on the night of the 5th (local time).

This means the path for the players to participate in the finals has been opened.

However, the conflict escalated as a large number of key staff members who were supposed to support the team were denied visas.

Local media, including Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency, reported that, unlike the players, a total of 12 key personnel for the team's operation, including the Secretary-General of the Iranian Football Federation, the team manager, and the media officer, were refused visas by the U.S. government.

In response, the Iranian Embassy in Turkey, via its official X (formerly Twitter) account on the 6th, strongly condemned the U.S. government's actions, stating, "The United States has escalated its intentional and discriminatory treatment towards the Iranian national football team to the highest level."

The embassy directly challenged the U.S. special envoy's announcement, which highlighted only the issuance of player visas, by questioning, "Why is the fact that visas for a significant portion of the delegation, including essential administrative and technical staff for the national team's operations, have been denied not being disclosed?"

The Iranian staff whose visas were denied have decided to take a 'workaround measure' for the time being.

According to Tasnim News Agency, they plan to depart with the national team from Turkey, where they have been training and playing friendly matches, on the 6th, travel to Tijuana, Mexico, which borders the United States, and then reapply for U.S. visas locally to attempt entry again.

Iran, drawn in Group G with Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand in the North, Central American, and Caribbean World Cup group stage, will play all three of its group matches in Inglewood near Los Angeles (LA) and Seattle in the United States.

Although Iran's participation in the World Cup was once uncertain due to the outbreak of war between the two countries on February 28th, it did not lead to the feared non-participation in the tournament.

However, due to the repercussions of the war and diplomatic conflicts, the Iranian national team has been preparing for the tournament after abruptly changing its World Cup base camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico.