Iran World Cup team still waiting for US visas, ambassador says

Iran’s ambassador to Mexico has revealed that the country’s national football team still lacks US visas and is not competing in the World Cup on “equal terms” because of difficulties training ahead of the tournament.

Ambassador Abolfazl Pasandideh visited the north-western Mexican border city of Tijuana, where Iranians have relocated their training camp. They were originally planned to be based in Tucson, in the US state of Arizona.

The ambassador told a news conference that “the country to the north” – meaning the US – had not followed through on its responsibility of hosting the Iranian team.

“We don’t know whether or not they’re going to give the players their visas,” he added.

Iran will play their three World Cup group games in two West Coast US cities: Los Angeles and Seattle. The head of the Iranian Football Federation has said it was hoping players would be granted multiple-entry visas.

“We aren’t participating in the World Cup on equal terms,” Mr Pasandideh said.

“We haven’t been able to train our team like they should,” he added, because of the war in the Middle East that began on Feb 28.

Iran is due to play in Los Angeles on June 15 against New Zealand, on June 21 against Belgium, and in Seattle against Egypt on June 26.

In other news, the United States, Mexico, and Canada on Thursday announced aligned public health travel measures for people coming from African regions at the greatest risk from Ebola, they said in a joint statement, as they aim to protect citizens and visitors during the World Cup.

“The health and safety of every person in the region remains our highest priority as we welcome the world to North America,” they said in the statement, which did not detail the aligned measures.

The World Health Organization on May 17 declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and said there was a high risk it could spread to neighboring countries.