The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is easing its restrictions on Iran’s World Cup soccer team, allowing the players to travel to Seattle two days before their next match.
The team will still be required to leave the United States immediately after its match against Egypt on June 26, which could be its final game of the tournament, a DHS spokesperson said on June 23.
“This was planned on our end,” said Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force. “We were going to look at how the first two movements went, and if they went smoothly, we would extend the extra day in light of the longer travel time.”
An Iran Football Federation spokesperson said that the team will leave its base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, on June 24 to fly to Seattle.
The Iranians had originally planned to base themselves in Arizona, but when the United States launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, that plan became unviable. In May, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that Iran would be based just over the border in Tijuana.
Iran has drawn both its games, and if it loses against Egypt in Seattle it will almost certainly be knocked out of the 48-game tournament and head back to Tehran.
If it beats Egypt and wins the group, it will remain in Seattle for its Round 32 match. But if it beats Egypt and comes second in the group, it will face a match in Dallas.
Iran’s coach has complained about the team having to return to its training base in Mexico only a few hours after the game.
“Right now we need recovery more than anything,” Iranian coach Amir Ghalenoei said. “The conditions have been extremely hard for us.”
FIFA regulations state that “each team shall travel from its team base camp to the match venue one day before matchday (MD‑1) and in exceptional cases on MD‑2, and shall return to their team base camp after the match (on MD/MD+1).”
“We don’t ask for much. We just ask for the same procedure as for all the other 47 teams,” Iran team captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh said on June 21. “Hopefully we can bring everyone who is involved and help us with us.”
After Egypt beat New Zealand 3–1 in Vancouver on June 21, its soccer federation asked permission to fly directly to Seattle, but FIFA denied that request, citing a lack of security resources.
Instead, Egypt returned to its base camp in Spokane, Washington, a 45-minute flight from Seattle.
Relations between Washington and Tehran have improved recently.
The United States and Iran agreed on a memorandum of understanding on June 17 to end the Iran war, and delegations from the two countries met for talks at the Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne, near Stansstad, Switzerland, on June 21.
The mediators, Pakistan and Qatar, said “encouraging progress” had been made during the talks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
