Iran’s football squad, whose participation in the World Cup remains uncertain, have handed their passports to the US embassy in Türkiye for visas, the head of their Football Federation said.
Mehdi Taj said on Friday Iran was following instructions from the world football governing body.
Their quest for the visas comes as Iran and the United States remain locked in negotiations to end the Middle East war that began in February with a massive wave of strikes on Iran.
“Yesterday, I had discussions with FIFA regarding the US visas,” Taj said. “We were told to submit all passports to the US embassy in Ankara.”
The Iranian team is due to fly from Türkiye to Spain on Saturday before travelling on to their base camp in Mexico, which has issued visas to the squad.
“We are waiting to see what happens today or, at the latest, tomorrow, because our national team needs to receive these passports and travel with them to Tijuana,” said Taj.
