U.S. to allow Iran’s World Cup team to travel two days before next match, easing restrictions

The federal government is allowing Iran’s FIFA World Cup team to travel to the United States two days before the next match, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday, easing prior restrictions.

However, a department spokesperson said the team, whose country is at war with the United States, is still required to leave after the match Friday in Seattle, according to the Associated Press. 

A spokesperson from the Iran Football Federation also said that the team would be leaving Tijuana, Mexico, its base camp on Wednesday for Seattle.

“This was planned on our end,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told the wire service. “We were going to look at how the first two movements went, and if they went smoothly, we would extend the extra day in light of the longer travel time.”

This comes as officials from both sides are negotiating how to end the war in Iran.

Iran’s team has complained about the travel restrictions imposed on the team and challenges that they have faced since the war. In March, the team wanted to move its matches from the U.S. to Mexico, but FIFA stuck to its schedule. However, the team's request to move the base camp from Tuscan, Arizona to Tijuana was granted two weeks prior to arrival.

Several team officials and support staff have been banned from traveling with the team into the U.S. 

For its initial two matches near Los Angeles, the team was not allowed to travel until a day prior. Amir Ghalenoei, the Iran team’s coach, has repeatedly said that this was disadvantageous to the team, especially as they had less than 24 hours before playing in the match at noon on Sunday.

“Right now we need recovery more than anything,” Ghalenoei said after the 0-0 draw against Belgium through an interpreter. “The conditions have been extremely hard for us.”

However, the Iran team’s schedule is not uncommon. FIFA regulations also say that each team should travel from its team base camp to the match venue a day before match day, and only “in exceptional cases on MD‑2, and shall return to their team base camp after the match (on MD/MD+1).”

Nevertheless, Iran has asked for more time to recover after matches, especially for their trip from Tijuana to Seattle. They will be training on Thursday at the University of Washington.

According to team captain Mehdi Taremi, the Iran team has experienced difficulties with flying into and out of the U.S. each time between Tijuana and Los Angeles, with the normally short trip taking five hours the day before its first match against New Zealand.

Just hours before Iran's World Cup group stage match against Belgium, the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also told Fox News that Iran had “tried to get somebody in yesterday” with direct links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The Iran Football Federation called it “an outright and undeniable lie.”

Ghalenoei said Saturday, avoiding making direct commentary on the war. “We are here for football, not politics." However, the team’s players wore gold-colored pins with the number “168” on their jackets when they arrived in Mexico on June 7, in reference to the number of people killed in the missile strike on an elementary school at the start of the war.

It is uncertain whether the team Iran is playing against, Egypt, will also be allowed to arrive in Seattle two days earlier.