Iranian Football Federation President Mehdi Taj said that they are “moving its World Cup training base from Tucson” to Tijuana, Mexico, removing “one of the final hurdles to its participation in this summer’s tournament.” Iran is scheduled to open World Cup play at SoFi Stadium, facing New Zealand on June 15. There had been “questions over the Iranian team’s security in the U.S.” after American and Israeli attacks on the country began nearly four months ago. Because the World Cup is being shared with Mexico and Canada, Iran “requested permission to move its base across the border,” a request that Taj said had “been granted.” Iran’s federation said that moving the base camp “will resolve potential visa issues since the team will enter the U.S. through Mexico.” Taj added that the team “may even be able to travel to and from Mexico using Iran Air flights” (L.A. TIMES, 5/23).
Mexico has said that it will host Iran’s football team during next month’s World Cup after its President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the U.S. government had “refused to allow the squad to stay overnight on American territory.” Sheinbaum said, “The U.S. doesn’t want the Iranian squad to stay overnight in the US . . . So they asked us if they could stay in Mexico and we said we had no problem. We had no reason to deny them so we gave them this option” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 5/25).
Iran has “maintained its intention to participate in the tournament” despite months of hostilities with the U.S. and Israel. Washington D.C. and Tehran are “currently seeking a peace deal to end the conflict” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/25).
