The Department of Homeland Security is finally allowing the Iranian World Cup soccer team to travel to match locations a day early—something that nearly every other participating country in the tournament has been able to do. But they still won’t be allowed to stay overnight after their games on U.S. soil.“Ahead of the match in Seattle on June 26, the Iranian team will be allowed to come in match day minus two, so two days before the match. They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match,” a DHS spokesperson told NBC. “Again, the President wants to make sure that we’re talking about what actually happens on the pitch.… A lot of that is making sure that things are safe and secure, not just around the stadiums, but around base camps and training sites.”This decision comes after the Trump administration first denied the visas of 15—then 11—team assistants, blocking them from entering the U.S. The team itself was essentially booted from the country right after their matches in Los Angeles on June 15 and June 21, forcing them to stay in Tijuana, Mexico, rather than their abandoned base camp in Tucson, Arizona, as originally planned, or anywhere near the city they were playing in. The team also still has to go through hours of security checks each time they enter the U.S. from Mexico.This constant back-and-forth is detrimental to both the performance and the morale of the players, who have nothing to do with America’s ongoing war on Iran.“I think it’s not good for the football,” said team captain Mehdi Taremi last week. “In [the] World Cup, you have to prepare good for the next game, which is a lot of stress for the players and the staff and everyone. But we don’t have that support, and I think FIFA have to help us more than this. Let’s see what’s going to happen in the future.”Iran qualified for the World Cup in the spring of 2025, months before the joint U.S.-Israeli attack that started the war in February.
