Iran National Team Heads to Mexico World Cup Camp as U.S. Vows to Block IRGC-Linked Delegates

Iran’s national football team will leave its training base in Antalya, Turkey, for a World Cup camp in Tijuana, Mexico, on Saturday, June 6. The squad is scheduled to depart at 15:20 local time and arrive in Mexico at 01:30 on Sunday, June 7, after a stop in Spain, the team’s official social media account announced.

The team will play its final pre-tournament friendly against Mali on Thursday behind closed doors and without media present, Iran’s football federation said.

The squad has trained in Antalya since last month and has played three friendlies there since February 28, losing to Nigeria and defeating Costa Rica and The Gambia. The World Cup, jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, runs from June 11 to July 19.

Iran is drawn in Group G and will face New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, both in Los Angeles, before meeting Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that Washington would not allow individuals with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to join the delegation. “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.

U.S. visas would be issued quickly. The federation has not confirmed whether any visas have been granted.

In April an Iranian federation delegation, including Taj, was turned back at Toronto’s Pearson airport despite holding valid visas and missed a pre-World Cup FIFA meeting in Vancouver. ” Canada designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation in 2024. -Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28.