U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News that an individual with direct ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to board the Iran team’s flight to Los Angeles from Mexico for Sunday’s World Cup match vs. Belgium.
The Iran football federation on Sunday denied this, calling it an “outright lie” and calling the allegations “fabricated and entirely baseless.”
“The claim that an official representative of the Iranian football federation attempted to board a flight to enter the United States yesterday and was prevented from doing so is an outright and undeniable lie. This claim is so unfounded that those who made it are well aware that such an incident never occurred in the first place.
“It is regrettable that a senior U.S. official has resorted to spreading false statements and misinformation in order to justify restrictions imposed on members of the Iranian national team delegation.
“When a specific, verifiable, and individually targeted allegation is made and that allegation is fundamentally false, it naturally calls into question the credibility of the other accusations as well.”
Mullin told Fox News that most teams travel with around 120 people, but the U.S. had accepted 53 in Iran’s case. He said the rest of the people Iran had tried to secure visas for had “direct ties to the IRGC and aren’t their normal traveling group.”
The federation called Mullin’s claims “completely unsupported by any evidence or documentation, but also represent a clear attempt to cover up discriminatory behavior and unreasonable restrictions.”
Mullin did not name the man but said he had “direct ties” to the IRGC, something the Iran federation has rejected outright.
The Iran federation president is Mehdi Taj. Taj previously was a high-ranking intelligence officer with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
That statement echoed Iran’s complaints throughout the tournament that politics have infringed on soccer, even as U.S. Vice President JD Vance said there was an opportunity to “turn over a new leaf” with talks beginning in Switzerland on the interim deal to end the war.
Iran’s players and coach have complained about shuttling to and from Mexico instead of Tucson, Arizona, and the barring of some officials and staff, and the federation has said it would pursue a complaint against FIFA.
Iranian national team player Alireza Jahanbakhsh said after the 0-0 draw against Belgium that he doesn’t want to keep dwelling on the challenging situation, and that players are now focused on recovery and preparing to travel to Seattle for the next game, against Egypt.
He said he hopes the team can head there as soon as possible to adapt.
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“We don’t ask for much. We just ask for the same procedure as for all the other 47 teams,” he said. “Hopefully we can bring everyone who is involved and help us with us.”
About the detained individual, Mullin told Fox News earlier on Sunday: “When we started doing the research on him, he had only been put in place since 2022, and we didn’t allow him to board the plane.
“The guy trying to get on the plane yesterday had direct ties to IRGC.”
Eleven members of Iran’s World Cup delegation have been denied visas to enter the U.S.
Iran’s coach, Amir Ghalenoei, spoke on Monday after the team’s first match against New Zealand about the restrictions being placed on those who were granted right of entry.
“We were supposed to arrive two nights before the game and we were not permitted, we were supposed to stay tonight and return tomorrow lunchtime but I have no idea why, and they haven’t told us,” he said.
“Our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup.”
Information from PA and The Associated Press was used in this report.
