Iran’s soccer team has been granted visas to enter the United States so it can play in the World Cup, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack confirmed on Friday.
A US administration official confirmed this separately in a statement issued by the State Department.
The issuance of the visas means Iran will compete in the world’s top sporting event, even as the war in the Middle East pits it against the United States and Israel, albeit with a shaky ceasefire.
“Proud of our incredible team at the US Embassy in Ankara for their work processing visas for Iran’s national soccer team on their way to the @FIFAWorldCup in the United States,” Barrack said, commenting on a news report that Iran’s World Cup players have been granted visas to enter the United States.
“Sport transcends borders and we look forward to welcoming competitors and fans from all over the world,” said the ambassador.
The unnamed administration official confirmed that the Iran team had been issued visas and added: “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to bring terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”
The Iranian team will fly from Turkey to Spain on Saturday before traveling to their base camp in Mexico, where they will arrive on Sunday.
The team will be based in Mexico during the North American tour, but all three of their group stage matches will be played in the United States.
They were originally to be based in the US, but moved their camp to Mexico because of tensions between Iran and the United States over the war that began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Iran begin their World Cup campaign against New Zealand on June 16 in Los Angeles.
They will play other group games against Belgium, also in LA, and Egypt in Seattle.
