Ambassador Says Iran Team Only Allowed In Us On World Cup Match Days

MEXICO CITY, June 7 (Bernama-dpa) -- The Iranian national team players will only be allowed to enter the United States on the day of their World Cup matches, Iranian Ambassador to Mexico Abolfazl Pasandideh said, according to media reports on Saturday. 

"They can enter [the US] in the morning and on the same day they have to leave," Mexican media cited Pasandideh as saying.

Pasandideh also told reporters in Tijuana, according to a Spanish translation by an interpreter, that a total of 15 officials from the Iranian Football Federation have not yet received visas to enter the US for the World Cup, which begins on Thursday.

However, the hope is that they will receive visas before Iran's first match against New Zealand on June 15.

According to Iranian media, Iran's football federation president Mehdi Taj, the team's logistics manager, is among those affected.

All members of the Iranian squad have received visas to enter Mexico, which is co-hosting the June 11-July 19 tournament with the US and Canada. All Iran's group matches are in the US.

The war between Iran and the US began in February, and there were doubts that the Iranian team would make it to the US for the football tournament.

The Iranian federation said in May it would relocate the team's training camp from the US state of Arizona to Tijuana in Mexico, south of San Diego in California.

The Iranian team's first two games -- against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 -- are set to take place in Los Angeles. Iran is then set to play against Egypt on June 26 in Seattle, in the northwestern state of Washington.

-- BERNAMA-dpa