Iran’s World Cup football players have been granted visas to enter the United States, a White House official told Reuters on Friday, just 10 days before their first match in Los Angeles amid a conflict between the two countries.
The head of Iran's Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, said earlier on Friday that the team had handed their passports to the US embassy in Turkiye for visas, AFP reported.
Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, said late on Thursday the squad had still not received their US visas but these were granted overnight, the White House official said.
Taj said that after discussions with FIFA “we were told to submit all passports to the US embassy in Ankara.”
“We are waiting to see what happens today or, at the latest, tomorrow, because our national team needs to receive these passports and travel with them to Tijuana,” Taj said.
