The Iranian football team began their World Cup campaign under the shadow of a war with the United States. They soon became collateral damage in the conflict with strict conditions on their visas to the US and other difficulties. Now, as a peace deal emerges between the US and Iran, experts have asked what this could mean for Team Melli – as the Iranian squad is known – in the tournament.
Although World Cup hosts have been at war with other nations at the time of tournaments, and Argentina was also in the midst of the Dirty War during the 1978 tournament, there has not been a single case of an organiser being embroiled in a conflict with another participant, as is the case with the US and Iran.
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The US and Israel launched a war on Iran in February 28. Although a temporary ceasefire suspended much of the most intense fighting on April 8 and a peace agreement was signed this week, tensions between the two countries remain high and have spilled over into the supposedly apolitical World Cup.
This bubble burst in March when US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the Iran squad was welcome to the US but he “[did not] believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety”.
Iran’s football team has been held hostage to the US’s immigration whims right up till the start of the tournament. Players were granted visas for the US — where they play all their group stage matches — just 10 days before their opening match against New Zealand in Los Angeles – and have had to leave the country for their base camp in Mexico after finishing their games. Iranian-American political analyst and journalist Negar Mortazavi has described this as “extra animosity” towards Team Melli.
Whether the team would even be allowed into the country remained unknown as FIFA President Gianni Infantino appeared unable to secure any guarantees from Trump about the Iranian team’s visa situation.
Out of a rightful abundance of caution, manager Amir Ghalenoei’s side switched the team’s base camp from Arizona, US, to Tijuana, Mexico, at the last minute. The US doubled down on Tuesday and said the team had to depart within hours of the full-time whistle being blown. They had arrived just one day prior to kickoff.
As a hurried memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran began to materialise on Wednesday night, questions arose on its ramifications for Team Melli.
While neither side has released a physical copy of the memorandum of understanding, nor are World Cup-specific arrangements expected to be written in, experts hope that the agreement translates to more amicable treatment for the Iranian football team in the US.
“With a peace deal, things can change,” Mortazavi said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
“We can see President Trump’s rhetoric on Iran has dramatically changed over the past few days, and he’s suddenly talking about better relationships with Iran from a political and economic standpoint, and that can certainly extend to sports,” she continued.
The shift from threats to diplomacy sprouted last week when Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had”. “Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly.”
Mortazavi said that despite the World Cup’s stance on steering clear from politics, the US’s treatment of Iran’s team was a testament to how politics can impact the sport.
“I expect a US peace deal to open the door for better relations and hopefully have a positive impact on the situation of the team and remove some of the hurdles if the US can extend some goodwill gestures to the team,” she said.
A slight thawing of relations ahead of the peace deal announcement came as the US on Tuesday quickly reissued a multiple-entry visa for Iran winger Mehdi Torabi after his visa expired following the game with New Zealand.
However, political scholar Niki Akhavan cautioned that Trump might renege on the deal due to the immense pressure he faces from Republican anti-Iran hardliners, pro-Israel groups and Democrats for giving Iran “too much” in the peace deal.
“But, in the best-case scenario, issuing a multiple-entry visa for Torabi may be a good indication of some kind of flexibility on the US’s part to actually adhere to its responsibilities as a host nation,” Akhavan told Al Jazeera.
“The comments Trump has made today on Iran are friendly comments, we might see better treatment of the Iran team, which has been unfairly treated the most. It’s a sign of them softening their unreasonable stance towards Iran.”
Akhavan’s caution stood true as tensions at the World Cup reignited after the solitary goodwill gesture of Torabi’s visa renewal.
Iran announced on Thursday that it would lodge a complaint with FIFA after its football federation claimed its request to enter the US two days before their match against Belgium on Sunday was declined.
“Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organisers, affecting the implementation of its technical staff’s plans,” a spokesperson for the federation said.
Part of the host nation’s responsibilities include each team’s safety, and, Akhavan argues that the US’s decisions regarding Iran’s logistics at the World Cup have been discriminatory and have deliberately attempted to hurt the team.
The logistical barriers were compounded when Iran’s World Cup ticket allotment for fans was withdrawn just before the tournament began. Additionally, several members of the squad’s technical staff were denied entry to the US, even though all football players were allowed.
“You’re actively disadvantaging a team; the whole idea is that everybody is level on the playing field, and the US’s actions thus far have been counter to that,” Akhavan said.
“I can only hope that one impact of this agreement is that they [the US] will adhere to their responsibilities [as host nation] and we’ll see some changes.
“Because this is unfair to these young men; this is their dream and they’re representing their people.”
Akhavan also emphasised that FIFA could have pushed the US to fulfil its responsibilities as a host nation and transcend the war and politics.
“Hopefully, now that there is an agreement, [Infantino] can use that as motivation to make peace part of the agenda of the World Cup. There’s a lot of empty gestures towards peace by Infantino and FIFA with the armbands and the FIFA peace prize,” Akhavan said, referring to Trump being the recipient of FIFA’s inaugural accolade in December.
“Let’s see if they can actually put some of that into material reality in terms of the Iranian team.”
