ISTANBUL, June 6 — Iran’s football squad have been granted visas to play in the World Cup, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack confirmed in a message on X on Friday.

“Proud of our outstanding team at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara for their work processing visas for Iran’s national football team on their road to the @FIFAWorldCup in the United States,” he said, commenting on a news report that Iran’s World Cup players have been granted the visas to enter the United States.

“Sports transcends borders, and we look forward to welcoming competitors and fans from around the world,” the ambassador said.

The Iranian team is due to fly from Turkey to Spain on Saturday before travelling on to their base camp in Mexico, which has issued visas to the squad, where they will arrive on Sunday.

The team will be based in Mexico during the tournament in North America, but all three of their group stage matches are due to be held in the United States.

They were originally due to be based in the US but switched their camp to Mexico due to the tensions between them and the United States over the war in the Middle East.

The two countries have been at war since the US and Israel began bombing Iran at the end of February, although currently a fragile ceasefire is being observed.

Iran begin their World Cup campaign against New Zealand on June 16 in Los Angeles.

They will play further group matches against Belgium, also in LA, and Egypt in Seattle. — AFP