Visas approved for Iran team to travel to the U.S. for 2026 World Cup

All 26 members of Iran's national football team have successfully obtained U.S. visas. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, announced this achievement on June 5, 2026, in anticipation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.The U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, handled the visa processing. However, several important administrative and managerial personnel were denied visas. Among those refused were Executive Director Mehdi Kharati and Secretary General Hedayat Mombini. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio remarked that individuals associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are prohibited from joining the delegation."We have no problem with the athletes, as we stated earlier, or their support staff," Rubio said during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing. "But what we're not going to allow is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that nature"."So we were going to watch that very closely, and we'll continue to watch that very closely, but by and large, I don't anticipate that problem with any other country."Due to visa challenges and ongoing geopolitical tensions, Iran has moved its main training base camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico. The team is scheduled to arrive in Mexico this weekend and will enter the U.S. solely for their matches.Iran is set to compete in two of their World Cup group stage matches in Inglewood, California—against New Zealand on June 15, followed by a match against Belgium six days later. Iran's third match is scheduled for June 26, where they will face Egypt in Seattle.