Tense situation ahead of the next World Cup with Washington rejecting the visa requests of several members of the Iranian delegation, including the president of the Football Federation.
Iran will not participate in the draw ceremony for the World Cup 2026 in the USA, which will be held in Washington on December 5th. The decision came after that the US government rejected visa requests of several members of the Iranian delegation.
USA, visas denied: Iran will not participate in the draws for the World Cup
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The United States, which together with Canada and Mexico is one of the countries organizing the next World Cup, does not maintain diplomatic relations with Tehran since 1980. Iran, however, qualified in the second pot for the final phase of the tournament, a condition which would have meant its participation in the draws on 5 December in Washington. According to what the Iranian sports newspaper reports Varzesh 3However, the US government did not issue the necessary visas to some members of the delegation, including the president of the Iranian Football Federation Mehdi Tajto enter the country.
The spokesman for the Iranian football federation commented on what happened on state television: “We have informed FIFA, underlining that these decisions have nothing to do with sport”he declared. “The members of the Iranian delegation will therefore not participate in the drawing ceremony”. Among the four members to whom the visa was issued is the national coach, Amir Ghalenoei.
Iran, Mehdi Taj: “Purely political decision”
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Yesterday evening, as reported by the news agency MehrMehdi Taj reported a supposed political decision by the United States behind what happened: “We told FIFA President Infantino that we were faced with a purely political stance and asked him to remedy this behavior on the part of the United States.”.
Outside the world of sport, meanwhile, Iran and the USA, enemies since before the Gulf Warhave started negotiations regarding the controversial Iranian nuclear program, thanks to the mediation of the Sultanate of Oman. With Israel’s surprise attack on Iran of last June 13, however, in which the United States participated by bombing three important Iranian nuclear sites, all discussion was inevitably interrupted.
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