Official: Iran will leave the United States hours after each World Cup match World Cup 2026 news
Mehdi Turabi was issued a new visa after the previous one expired when the team returned to Mexico after the New Zealand match.
Published on June 16, 2026
US officials confirmed that the Iranian national team will be forced to leave the country within hours of the final whistle blowing for its World Cup group stage matches in Los Angeles and Seattle.
The response from the 2026 World Cup host nation came the following Tuesday Criticism of the way it dealt with the Iranian team’s visa and remain in the United States after their first match.
“We were clear that this was the process,” Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA task force, told The Associated Press.
Milli team Tied with New Zealand In a politically charged Group G match in Los Angeles on Monday after months of uncertainty over the team’s participation in the World Cup amid the US-Israel war on Iran.
The Iranian delegation left the United States hours after the match ended at around 8pm local time (03:00 GMT) and returned to their base camp in Mexico, drawing criticism of the US’s handling of their visas as the team did not get a day to recover at their hotel.
Iran coach Amir Ghalinoi said after the match that his team had received orders to leave the United States and return to Mexico after only a few hours. Gallinois said the team was expecting to spend the night in California to maximize the natural recovery process after the opener.
The United States faced more pressure as Iranian winger Mehdi Al-Turabi’s visa expired after the first match. Team officials confirmed Tuesday afternoon that they had obtained a multiple-entry visa that would allow him to travel to the United States to participate in future games.
The US State Department said: “This issue has been resolved.”
He added: “As soon as we became aware of the problem, we worked to ensure that the player participated in every match.”
Some Iranian team members and team officials were banned from entering the United States, but all players and coaches received visas, Giuliani said during an interview broadcast Monday evening on CBS News.
He also outlined the conditions under which the Iranian team will be able to come to the United States to play its matches.
“The team will be allowed to come, on the day of the game minus one, that is, the day before the game. They will be asked to leave on the day the game ends, that is, the evening of the game. They will be able to do that again in Los Angeles. They will be able to do that again in Seattle,” Giuliani said.
When asked why some support staff and team officials were denied entry, Giuliani did not go into detail but pointed to previous comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio about denying entry to people with direct ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“Secretary Rubio said very clearly: Anyone with direct ties to the IRGC will not come to the United States of America, and they will not allow the World Cup to be the reason they come,” Giuliani said. “So I think the reason is pretty clear.”
Iran national team captain Mehdi Taremi said the team endured five hours of travel and security checks during what is usually a very short trip from Tijuana to the Los Angeles area on Sunday.
Taremi said: I think FIFA should help us more than this.
