Iran World Cup team still waiting for US visas, ambassador says
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Iran players practising at a training camp at their base camp in Antalya, Turkey, on May 26. The Iranians have yet to receive their US visas ahead of the World Cup.
PHOTO: AFP
TIJUANA – Iran’s football team still lack US visas and are not competing at the June 11-July 19 World Cup on “equal terms”, because of their difficulty in training ahead of the tournament, the country’s Ambassador to Mexico said on May 28.
Ambassador Abolfazl Pasandideh visited the north-western Mexican border city of Tijuana, where the Iranians have relocated their training camp to. They were originally planned to be based in Tucson in the US state of Arizona.
He told a news conference that “the country to the north” – referring to the US – had not followed through on its responsibility of hosting the team.
“We don’t know whether or not they’re going to give the players their visas,” he added.
Iran will play their three World Cup group-stage games in two US cities, Los Angeles and Seattle. The head of the Iranian football federation has said it was hoping players would be granted multiple entry visas.
“We aren’t participating in the World Cup on equal terms,” Mr Pasandideh said.
“We haven’t been able to train our team like they should,” he added, because of the war in the Middle East that began on Feb 28.
Iran’s ambassador to Mexico Abolfazl Pasandideh speaking to media in Tijuana, Mexico, on May 28.
PHOTO: EPA
On May 27, Iranian diplomats visited the stadium where the team were training, a source from Mexican top-tier side Club Tijuana told AFP. The diplomats also met local security officials, the source said.
Iran are due to play in Los Angeles on June 15 against New Zealand and on June 21 in a clash with the Belgians, before facing Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
In other news, the US, Mexico and Canada on May 28 announced aligned public health travel measures for people coming from African regions at the greatest risk of Ebola, as they aim to protect citizens and visitors during the World Cup.
“The health and safety of every person in the region remains our highest priority as we welcome the world to North America,” they said in a joint-statement, which did not detail the measures.
The World Health Organization on May 17 declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a public health emergency of international concern, and said there was a high risk it could spread to neighbouring countries.
The decision has prompted governments to step up travel-related containment measures. Washington last week banned non-citizens who had travelled to the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan recently from entering the US. On May 22, the ban was extended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to green card holders who have been in those countries in the previous 21 days.
Canada has also banned residents from the three African nations from entering the country for 90 days, which started on May 27.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents and other foreign nationals who have been in affected areas recently and do not have symptoms will have to quarantine for 21 days from May 30.
Mexico’s Secretary of Health David Kershenobich on May 25 outlined tighter Ebola screening measures at airports, urging the public to avoid travel to the DRC and asking arrivals from the country to observe a 21-day quarantine.
AFP, REUTERS
