US refuses to ease Iran World Cup journey restrictions for Belgium match | World Cup 2026 News

Andrew Giuliani says Iran’s gamers is not going to be allowed to remain longer for his or her group matches within the US.

The United States is not going to ease the journey restrictions on the Iranian crew for his or her World Cup matches in Los Angeles and Seattle regardless of the ⁠crew saying they might lodge a grievance with FIFA, the cohost nation’s prime event official has confirmed.

The US will proceed to evaluate the Iran squad’s journey preparations, however for now the unique plan stays in place, Andrew Giuliani, govt director of the White House Task Force for the event, advised the Reuters information company on Saturday.

Iran are sad at restrictions that imply they’ll solely journey to venues inside 24 hours of their ⁠fixtures and should depart again to their coaching base in Tijuana, Mexico, straight after every recreation, with coach Amir Ghalenoei suggesting his aspect had been “the most oppressed team in the whole World Cup”.

The Iranian delegation left the US hours after the full-time whistle at their first World Cup match in opposition to New Zealand final week.

The Group G match ended at about 8pm native time (03:00 GMT), and Iran returned to their base camp in Mexico inside a number of hours, prompting criticism of the US dealing with of their visas because the crew didn’t get a day to recuperate at their resort.

Ghalenoei stated the crew had anticipated to spend the evening in California to maximise the conventional restoration course of after their opening recreation.

The US confronted additional pushback as Iran winger Mehdi Torabi’s entry visa expired after the primary recreation. Team officers confirmed Tuesday afternoon that they’d secured him a brand new, multiple-entry visa permitting him to journey into the US for future matches.

“This issue has been resolved,” the US Department of State stated.

The identical journey protocol will likely be in place for Iran’s fixture in opposition to Belgium on Sunday.

The Iranian crew was as a result of arrive in Los Angeles on Saturday night, about 24 hours earlier than kickoff time for his or her match.

‘Situation is dynamic’

Giuliani, nonetheless, says the state of affairs is fluid and they’ll talk about what measures will likely be in place for Iran’s third recreation in opposition to Egypt in Seattle on Friday.

“The ‌situation is dynamic,” Giuliani stated in Houston. “We have a plan right now. Tomorrow afternoon [after the match against Belgium], they will take the 27-minute flight back to Tijuana.

“We will see how it goes for match two, and then there will be discussions the day after in terms of what it looks like for match three in Seattle.”

Giuliani defended the measures in place and stated the pre-tournament change in coaching bases for the aspect from Tucson to Tijuana had shortened Iran’s journey time.

“The shift from Tucson to Tijuana, I think, was good for everybody involved. Certainly it reduces their travel time to Los ⁠Angeles too,” he stated.

“Their flight is an hour shorter than it would be from Tucson. And we’re ⁠happy with the way that things went for match one in Los Angeles.

“I would just point to the fact that all players have received visas. All the coaches have received visas. There are some team officials that have not received visas, and that’s because we’ve seen some derogatory information on them, and this ⁠is the balance that we talk about.”

Giuliani stated the purpose has all the time been to guard the pursuits of the US and the worldwide guests on the World Cup.

“We want ⁠to make sure we have this incredible soccer tournament, where people are welcome ⁠and enjoy the World Cup, while also making sure that we are not just protecting American citizens, but we’re also protecting all those international visitors that are coming here,” he stated.

He revealed that no threats to the event had been recognized, however that officers stay vigilant.

“What I can tell you is our intelligence community has ‌tripled down on this since the beginning of this year,” he stated. “We’re in discussions every hour on it. But there have been no credible threats at this moment.”

Giuliani has been happy with the opening 10 days of the World Cup.

“Things are going as planned,” ‌he ‌stated. “It’s been fantastic to see the great play on the pitch, that seems to be the majority of the conversation, which has been fantastic.”