The United States is sticking to its travel sanctions on Iran’s World Cup team, while White House officials overseeing the tournament are defending the measures as the Iranian Football Federation moves forward with a formal complaint to FIFA.Andrew Giuliani, acting director of the White House task force for the World Cup, told Reuters on Saturday that existing plans remain in place despite Iran’s objections. The team is only allowed to travel to match venues within 24 hours of kickoff and must return to their training base in Tijuana, Mexico immediately after each game.Iran’s football federation announced Thursday it will file a complaint with FIFA after a request to travel to Los Angeles was denied two days before Sunday’s match against Belgium. The team faced logistical hurdles throughout the tournament, with captain Mehdi Taremi stating that a typical short charter flight from Tijuana to Los Angeles took five hours, including security and immigration checks.Giuliani said that the team’s training base was moved from Tucson, Arizona to Tijuana before the tournament, which actually reduced their travel time to Los Angeles. He also said that all players and coaches had received visas, but some team officials were denied visas due to “derogatory information”.The official stressed that security concerns remain a priority, although no specific threats have been identified.
‘The most oppressed team’
Coach Amir Ghelenoui has drawn sharp criticism, describing his team as “the most harassed team in the entire World Cup”. He said the latest schedule gave his team less than 16 hours to prepare for the Belgium match, forcing them to halve their normal training time.“We were able to train only half the time we usually spend on training,” he told reporters.Giuliani said the restrictions are in line with FIFA rules, which require state teams to travel to match sites a day before and return after the game. Some team officials and support staff are unable to obtain US visas.Iran will play its final group match against Egypt on June 26 in Seattle. Discussions about travel arrangements for that game will take place after Sunday’s match against Belgium.