ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s World Cup soccer team prepared to set off from Turkey for their\u00a0training base\u00a0in Mexico on Saturday ahead of three group matches in the United States later this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Iranian state television, however, some members of the Iranian Football Federation who had been due to accompany the team were yet to receive visas to enter the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Iranian TV report said the federation\u2019s secretary-general, Hedayat Mombeini, and its vice president, Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, were among 14 backroom staff and officials who had not received U.S. visas ahead of games in Los Angeles and Seattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was unclear whether the federation\u2019s president, Mehdi Taj, had been issued a visa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team\u2019s participation in the World Cup has been complicated by\u00a0Iran\u2019s war\u00a0with Israel and the United States. Problems with processing visas had earlier led Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, on Mexico\u2019s\u00a0border with California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federation accused the U.S. of \u201cvindictive behavior\u201d in refusing visas for \u201ckey managerial and administrative members\u201d of the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision had \u201ceffectively denied the Iranian national team the opportunity for a level playing field and a competition free from discrimination,\u201d said the statement, which was reported by Iran\u2019s semiofficial Tasnim and Mehr news agencies. It added that the federation would pursue the matter through world soccer authority FIFA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One U.S. official earlier told The Associated Press that all players on the Iranian team were\u00a0approved for visas, while a second official said visas had been issued for players, coaches, trainers and some support staff. A third official suggested that some applicants affiliated with the team had been rejected for requesting visas \u201cunder false pretenses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the visas publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The squad has been preparing for the World Cup at a\u00a0training camp in Antalya, Turkey. The team said it has\u00a0already received visas\u00a0from Mexico\u2019s Embassy in Ankara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran plays its first two games in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15, and Belgium six days later, then heads to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26. Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 on July 3 in Arlington, Texas, if both teams come second in their groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Donald Trump in March had\u00a0discouraged Iran\u00a0from participating in the tournament, saying he didn\u2019t think it was \u201cappropriate\u201d and raising concerns over players\u2019 \u201clife and safety.\u201d A day later, Iran\u2019s national team\u00a0pushed back, saying \u201cno one can exclude\u201d it from playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u00a0finalized its team\u00a0Monday, including 17 home-based players whose clubs have not played since February because of the war. Star forward Sardar Azmoun was dropped in March, reportedly because of a social media post that angered Iranian authorities during the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u2019s sports minister said in March that it would \u201cnot be possible\u201d for the team to participate in the World Cup, but the republic\u2019s soccer federation said in May it was moving ahead with a team. The federation\u00a0had insisted\u00a0that all players and staff be granted visas, including those who had military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s World Cup soccer team prepared to set off from Turkey for their\u00a0training base\u00a0in Mexico on Saturday ahead of three group matches in the United States later this month. According to Iranian state television, however, some members of the Iranian Football Federation who had been due to accompany the team were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410378,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410377\/revisions\/410378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}