US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told lawmakers that the US would not let Iranians with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) embed themselves in the country's delegation to take part in the football World Cup that begins this month.
The Iranian team will play matches in the United States but will be based in Mexico for the tournament.
Despite the US-Israeli war with Iran, Rubio said Washington had "no problem" with the Iranian football team and its support staff entering the country.
"What we're not going to allow is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that nature, so we were going to watch that very closely," Rubio said at a House of Representatives committee hearing.
Based in Mexico
Iran recently shifted its pre-World Cup training camp from the United States to Mexico, where the team is expected to stay before travelling to its tournament matches.
Iran also expects visas for its national football team players to travel to Mexico ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be issued by late Tuesday or Wednesday morning, a senior football official said.
"We expect the visas for Iran's national team players to be issued tonight or tomorrow morning," Amir Mehdi Alavi, spokesperson for the Iranian Football Federation, told Iranian state media on Tuesday.
The visa issue has emerged as one of the main concerns for Iran ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
Members of the Iranian squad last week travelled from their training camp in the Turkish resort city of Antalya to Ankara to apply for US visas at the American Embassy ahead of the tournament.
The team has been holding a training camp in Antalya since May 19.
