US confirms Iranian footballers granted visas for World Cup

ISTANBUL: Iran’s football squad have been granted visas to enter the United Sates so they can play in the World Cup, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack confirmed Friday.

A US administration official confirmed this separately in a statement issued by the State Department.

The visa issuance means Iran will compete in the world’s top sporting event even as the Mideast war pitting it against the United States and Israel continues, albeit with a shaky truce in place.

“Proud of our outstanding team at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara for their work processing visas for Iran’s national football team on their road to the @FIFAWorldCup in the United States,” Barrack said, commenting on a news report that Iran’s World Cup players have been granted the visas to enter the United States.

“Sports transcends borders, and we look forward to welcoming competitors and fans from around the world,” the ambassador said.

The unnamed administration official confirmed Iran’s team has been issued visas, and added: “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”

The Iranian team is due to fly from Turkey to Spain on Saturday before travelling on to their base camp in Mexico, where they will arrive on Sunday.

The team will be based in Mexico during the tournament in North America, but all three of their group stage matches are due to be held in the United States.

They were originally due to be based in the US but switched their camp to Mexico due to the tensions between Iran and the United States over the war that began February 28 with US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

Iran begin their World Cup campaign against New Zealand on June 16 in Los Angeles.

They will play further group matches against Belgium, also in LA, and Egypt in Seattle.