Iran is ready to take part in the World Cup; in fact, the team has already been seen off by a large crowd in Tehran before leaving for Turkey, where the final training sessions will take place before the trip to the United States — in the group stage, Team Melli will face Egypt, Belgium and New Zealand between Los Angeles and Seattle. And yet, and yet, the Iranian delegation and team “are still waiting for visas”. These words were spoken by Medhi Taj, president of the Tehran Football Federation, in an interview with the IRNA news agency.
Obtaining visas to enter and play freely in the USA was one of the conditions set by Tehran in order to take part in the World Cup: a few days ago, before the public celebration with which the national team was seen off, Taj himself had explained that Iran “will certainly take part in the tournament”, but at the same time he clarified that the team and staff would fly to the United States on their own terms, that is, without being forced to “give up our values, our culture and our beliefs”. Visas, in this sense, carried significant weight: the federation president himself, just to give a practical example, did not attend the latest FIFA Congress — which took place in Vancouver a few days ago — precisely because he had been stopped at customs and had decided to go back home. His visa, as well as those of other members of the Iranian delegation, had been revoked because of his ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Which, in Canada and the USA, is considered a terrorist group.
In the new interview, Taj said that “the issue has not yet been resolved, in the sense that we have not received information on the granting of visas for our players. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow we will have a decisive meeting with FIFA, and they must give us guarantees”. The problem, as the BBC also writes in this article, is that many Iranian players have carried out their military service precisely in the IRGC, and as a result they could have problems entering American territory. Even Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while specifying that Iranian footballers “will be welcome”, explained that “those who have had ties to the Revolutionary Guards could face entry restrictions”. In short: there are quite a few reassurances about Iran’s departure and its presence at the World Cup, which at the moment does not seem to be in doubt, but in reality this is not such an easy situation to resolve.