Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that her government agreed to allow the Iranian national football team to stay in Mexico during the World Cup, adding that the United States did not want to host the team.
Sheinbaum said on Monday that the football’s governing body FIFA approached her government after the US said it did not want Iran’s squad to stay in the country throughout the tournament, despite Iran playing all three of its group matches there.
“We have no reason to deny them the possibility of staying in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference.
The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mehdi Taj, head of Iran’s football federation, said on Saturday the team’s base would be moved from Arizona to the Mexican border city of Tijuana during the tournament.
The team had originally planned to set up camp in Tucson, in the US state of Arizona.
