Star Metro - Iran World Cup squad to head for Mexico via Spain

The 2026 World Cup is being hosted jointly by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Neither the United States, where Iran will play their three group stage matches, nor Mexico, where the team will be based throughout the tournament, have yet issued visas for the players.

"We will leave for Spain on Saturday, and from there the team will go directly to Tijuana in Mexico," football federation chief Mehdi Taj said on Monday on a sports programme broadcast on state television.

"We will obtain a Mexican visa tomorrow (Tuesday) or the day after, and then a US visa will be issued quickly," Taj said.

Iran have been drawn in Group G and will play New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on June 15 and 21, followed by a game against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

Taj said that the outbreak of the Middle East war on February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran, "changed everything" for Team Melli.

"The situation in the country, and especially the war, has upended all our plans," Taj said.

"We had arranged good warm-up matches, including one against Spain, which was cancelled" in February.

The Iranians relocated their World Cup base, which initially was planned to be in Tucson in the US state of Arizona, to the northwestern Mexican border city of Tijuana due to tensions over the Middle East war.

Iran are currently preparing for the tournament in Turkey.

On Friday they beat Gambia 3-1 in a friendly in Antalya, where they will play another warm-up match against Mali on Thursday.

Taj complained that the team's World Cup preparations had been also dogged by "financial difficulties" because of the economic crisis in the country and the sharp depreciation of the rial against the dollar.

S.Clark--SMC