Iran Accuses US of Discriminatory Behavior Over World Cup Visas

With the World Cup football tournament about to start in about a week, the process of obtaining entry permits for the host countries and managing them has intensified from the participating nations selected for the game.

This time, the World Cup football tournament will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The opening ceremony will be held on June 19.

Iran has accused the host nation, the United States, of 'discriminatory behavior' by not granting visas to some members of the Iranian football team participating in the World Cup tournament due to the ongoing conflict between host nation the United States and Iran.

The Iranian embassy in Turkey stated, referring to the announcement by US Ambassador Tom Karak that visas had been granted to the players, "Why don't you say that management and executive staff, technical advisors, and others who are an integral part of any national football team have been denied visas?"

The embassy further stated, "The deliberate and discriminatory behavior against Iran's national football team has been escalated to a high level."

Iranian national football team chief Mehdi Taj said that after the Iranian delegation submitted passports for visas on the same day, Barak praised the US Embassy in Ankara for diplomatic efforts on Friday.

On Saturday, Iranian media and the Iranian sports online portal Verges-3 reported that Taj and other members of the delegation, executive members, and analysts were not granted visas.

On Friday, Taj told state television, "My assessment is that all members of the team will be issued visas, and we hope there will be no problems in this regard."

The Iranians have relocated their team's base camp for the World Cup. The stay, initially planned for Tucson, Arizona, has been moved to the border city of Tijuana in northwestern Mexico.

All three of the team's group stage matches are scheduled to take place in the United States.

The team will play New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 in Los Angeles, and Egypt on June 27 in Seattle.