Iran slams US over visa refusals for officials

Iran’s football federation has accused the United States of ‘vindictive behaviour’ after claims that visas were denied to key managerial and administrative members of its FIFA World Cup delegation.

According to Iranian state media, the federation’s secretary-general Hedayat Mombeini and vice president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi were among 14 staff members and officials who did not receive US visas ahead of matches scheduled in Los Angeles and Seattle.

It remains unclear whether federation president Mehdi Taj was granted entry clearance.

The team departed Turkey for its training base in Mexico on Saturday, ahead of three group-stage matches in the United States.

Reports said officials denied visas were expected to travel to Mexico while efforts continued to resolve the issue.

Iranian authorities said the decision had “effectively denied the Iranian national team the opportunity for a level playing field and a competition free from discrimination,” and confirmed they would raise the matter with FIFA.

The Iranian embassy in Ankara stated: “You cannot whitewash conduct that violates FIFA regulations and breaches the United States' host obligations merely by praising yourselves. This represents the worst possible form of politically biased interference in sport.”

A US official confirmed that all players in the Iranian squad had been approved for visas, while some support staff were also cleared.

However, other applicants were reportedly rejected for submitting requests “under false pretenses.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the authorities will allow athletes and essential staff, but will closely monitor and block entry for any non-sporting delegation members.

“We have no problem with the athletes, as we stated earlier, or their support staff, But what we're not going to allow is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that nature,” Rubio said.

“So we were going to watch that very closely, and we'll continue to watch that very closely.”

Iran are preparing in Antalya before travelling to Mexico, with group matches against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in June, and a potential knockout clash with the United States in Texas.

FIFA is expected to review the complaint in due course and provide further clarification shortly.