US Grants Visas to Iran Football Team for FIFA World Cup 2026

The United States has confirmed that Iran’s national football team has been granted entry visas to compete in the FIFA World Cup on American soil, even as the two countries remain engaged in a wartime conflict that has kept diplomatic ties severely strained.

US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack made the confirmation on Friday, with a senior State Department official separately issuing a parallel confirmation. The development clears the path for Iran to participate in the world’s most-watched sporting event despite the ongoing hostilities that began on February 28, when US and Israeli forces launched strikes against Iran — a conflict now operating under a fragile truce.

Ambassador Barrack expressed pride in the embassy team’s efforts in processing the applications, stating:

The unnamed State Department official who separately confirmed the visa issuance also issued a pointed caveat, stating: “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”

Iran’s squad is scheduled to depart Turkey for Spain on Saturday before travelling onward to Mexico, which will serve as their base camp for the duration of the tournament. They are expected to arrive in Mexico on Sunday. The team originally planned to be based in the United States but relocated their training camp to Mexico amid the tensions arising from the conflict.

Despite the Mexican base, all three of Iran’s group stage matches are scheduled to take place on US soil. Iran open their World Cup campaign against New Zealand on June 16 in Los Angeles. They will follow that with a second group match against Belgium, also in Los Angeles, before concluding group play against Egypt in Seattle.

The visa approval marks a rare instance of sport cutting through the fog of an active geopolitical conflict, with both governments effectively separating athletic competition from battlefield hostilities — at least for the duration of the tournament.