Iran footballers issued US visas for World Cup, says White House

Iran players get visas 10 days before their opening ‌World Cup match against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15.Iran’s World Cup football players have been granted visas to enter the United States, according to a White House official, just 10 days before their first match in Los Angeles amid a conflict between ⁠the two countries.Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, said late on Thursday the squad had still not received their US visas, but these were granted overnight, the White House official said.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Man City chair Al Mubarak will ‘say everything’ after verdict on financeslist 2 of 4Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal wins La Liga Player of the Season awardlist 3 of 4FIFA cancels World Cup tickets for about 60 fans who got them for freelist 4 of 4Cohosts Mexico look to break last 16 ‘curse’ at 2026 World Cupend of listUS Ambassador to Turkiye Tom Barrack confirmed the visas in a message on X on Friday. “Proud of our outstanding team at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara for their work processing visas for Iran’s national football team on their road to the @FIFAWorldCup in the United States,” he said, commenting on a news report that Iran’s World Cup players have been granted the visas to enter the United States.The US had not yet issued visas to some members of the Iran team’s technical and administrative staff, the semi-official Fars News Agency ‌reported on Friday.Iran’s federation has not yet made a statement on the news.“Visas for some members of the national team’s technical and executive staff have not yet been issued, and the US embassy has so far refused to issue them,” Fars said, without citing a source.The Iran" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="38678" data-entity-type="event">US-Israel war on Iran has turned the World Cup – the biggest global sporting event – into a geopolitical contest, with both sides appearing to use the tournament for political posturing.It is the first World Cup, since its inception in 1930, in which a host nation is set to receive a country it is at war with.