Don't mention the war: Tucson prepares to welcome Team Iran for World Cup

TUCSON, United States: In the Strait of Hormuz, US warships menace Iran’s oil tankers, while in Washington President Donald Trump demands “complete victory.” But in Tucson, they’re getting ready to welcome the Iranian football team as if nothing were amiss.

The city, an oasis of civilization in the Arizona desert, is set to be the base camp for “Team Melli” when the world’s biggest sporting spectacle opens in the US, Mexico and Canada next month.

“We’re just excited to host them here, and we’re going to give them a positive experience,” Sarah Hanna, director of the Kino Sports Complex, where the team will train, told AFP.

Grass is being watered and cut to FIFA-regulation height to ensure that players don’t get any surprises when they take to the field in Los Angeles and Seattle, the venues for their group-stage games.

Hotel rooms and meeting spaces are locked in, and security is tight.

“Right now, I’m probably averaging about 12 to 20 meetings regarding this training facility a week,” said Hanna.

“From our concessionaire for food and beverage… to lots of grounds meetings with FIFA coming out to check.”

Ceasefire

The flurry of activity in Tucson comes against the backdrop of a war between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other that is now in its 11th week.

Despite a shaky ceasefire in place for a month, hostilities are stubbornly unresolved, with Iran having virtually shut the Strait of Hormuz.

Organizers FIFA have insisted the team will take part in the tournament as planned, so Tucson has pressed ahead with its preparations.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s 100 percent on, and it’s never been off,” said Hanna.

“Since they’ve been identified as the team, we’ve been moving forward as them as our team, until we hear something different from FIFA.”

Despite the official position, there’s plenty of uncertainty.

On Friday, Iran’s football federation president announced the team would participate, but laid down a list of requirements, including around the granting of visas and the treatment of staff.

Concerns are particularly acute for anyone with ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the organization seemingly in control of the country now, but which the US views as a terrorist group.

And in March, Trump cast doubt on their presence, saying that while the team was “welcome” to participate, it might not be a good idea.

“I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” he wrote on social media.

Locals in Tucson dismiss the implied threat.

“Our president is known to be a bit bombastic in his use of social media,” said Jon Pearlman, president of FC Tucson.

“I don’t think President Trump or any part of our government will make it their business to make them feel unwelcome or unsafe. I think it will do the opposite.”

‘With open arms’

At the Kino Sports Complex, Iranian players will have access to the club’s weight training facilities, ice baths, and massage tables.

“We welcome them with open arms,” said Pearlman.

“We are part of the world soccer community. We are part of what FIFA is trying to do, and we believe the game is something that brings nations together, not drives them apart.”

It is a sentiment widely echoed throughout this multicultural city of 540,000, which leans Democratic.

“I hope that they still feel welcome here,” said Rob McLane, who plays indoor soccer.

“Even though we’re doing what we’re doing, which is ridiculous,” he said of the military operation.

Even near the local military base — whose aircraft regularly fly over the fields where the team will practice — Republican voters interviewed by AFP draw a clear distinction between sports and geopolitics.

“I’m glad that they’re coming,” said veteran Michael Holley, who thinks the war was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.

Trump only brought up player safety because he feared “that Iranian athletes would be punished by their own government if they had a voice of their own,” the 68-year-old said.

“He didn’t mean that the American people are a threat.”

But not everyone in Tucson is thrilled about the prospect of the Iranian team being in town.

For some in the city’s small Persian community, the players are little more than emissaries from a regime that launched a bloody crackdown on popular protests in January, killing thousands of people.

Ali Rezaei, a 68-year-old IT worker, said it would be “impossible” to support them.

“If there is a demonstration against them, I may go there.”