Iran World Cup players get US visas, official says, some staff waiting

Highlights:
- Iran players get visas 10 days before their opening match
- Some staff have not got visas, Iran news agency says
- Squad have moved base from Arizona to Tijuana in Mexico
- Iranian team face New Zealand in Los Angeles on 15 June
Iran's World Cup football players have received visas to
enter the United States, a US official said days before their first match, but
Iranian media said on Saturday that some administrative staff had not got their
visas.
The White House official told
Reuters on Friday, 10 days before Iran play in Los Angeles, that the players
had received their visas, after Iran's ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl
Pasandideh, said on Thursday that they had not received them.
First World Cup with hosts receiving war adversary
Iran's semi-official news agency
Tasnim reported that those who had not received visas included Executive
Director Mehdi Kharati, the secretary general of the football federation,
Hedayat Mombini, and Media Director Mohsen Motamedkia.
Staff members without visas would
travel to Mexico with the team while efforts to obtain visas continue, the
agency said.
Iran's football federation said the
behaviour of co-hosts the US "contradicts international sports laws"
and it would take up the matter with football's world governing body FIFA.
"The US government, continuing
its hostile actions against the national team ... made a non-sporting and
completely political decision to refuse visas for key managerial and
administrative members of the Iranian national football team," it said in
a statement reported by Iran's state media.
"This issue will definitely be
pursued by the Football Federation through FIFA.
"As the responsible body,
(FIFA) has the duty to follow up and finalise the visas for the managerial,
executive, technical, and support staff of the Iranian national team who are
currently in camp and whom the national team urgently needs."
FIFA was not immediately available
for comment outside business hours in the US.
Geopolitical contest
The US, Mexico and Canada are
co-hosting the biggest global sporting event, which starts on Wednesday.
The war on Iran, launched by the US
and Israel in February, has turned the World Cup into a geopolitical contest,
with both sides appearing to use the tournament for political posturing.
This is the first World Cup since
its inception in 1930 in which a host nation is set to receive a country it is
at war with.
Tehran negotiated a last-minute
move of the team's base from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, due to the visa issues
and a growing feeling in Iran that the squad's presence in the United States
should be kept to a minimum.
They are scheduled to land in
Tijuana early on Sunday.
Iran are due to play their first
Group G match on 15 June against New Zealand in Los Angeles, where they will
also face Belgium before taking on Egypt in Seattle.
Rubio says US to bar people linked to Revolutionary Guards
The US never formally said it did
not want the Iran team to stay on its territory, Ambassador Pasandideh said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
however, told lawmakers on Tuesday that the US would not allow Iran to include
in its delegation people linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a
powerful branch of the Iranian armed forces.
Mehdi Taj, president of Iran's
football federation, was denied entry for the tournament draw in Washington in
December. He is a former commander in the Revolutionary Guards.
Iran's desire to compete in the
World Cup underscored its efforts to reach a resolution in the war with
Washington, Pasandideh said.
"Iran's participation in the
World Cup - even on the soil of what is seen as its enemy - shows that Iran
seeks peace," Pasandideh said through a Spanish interpreter at the Iranian
embassy in Mexico City.
Progress in peace talks between
Iran and the US has been slow, with both sides seemingly inching towards an
interim agreement even as they continue to carry out military strikes.
















