The Iranian football team flew to Mexico on Saturday, where its base camp for the Football World Cup is located, but Iran denounced "discriminatory treatment" after the United States refused to issue visas to certain members of the team.
The Iranian players' plane took off for Mexico after a 15-day training camp in Antalya in Turkey, Iranian state television announced on Saturday, a few days before the start, on June 11, of the competition co-organized by the United States, Mexico and the Canada.
The players must arrive in Tijuana, their base camp for the duration of the competition, after obtaining their visas for the United States where they are due to play their first match on June 15.
"Why don't you say that visas were refused to a large part of the management and supervisory staff, technical advisors and other people who are an integral part of the national team?" against him.
She was responding to a statement the day before from the American ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, announcing that the Iranian team had obtained their visas.
“The visas necessary for Iran's participation in the World Cup, including those intended for athletes and essential support staff, have been issued,” added a US administration official on Saturday.
“We will not let the Iranian team abuse this system to smuggle terrorists into the United States under false pretenses,” added this official on condition of anonymity, without detailing.
According to the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, "15 members of the administrative and management team" are concerned. According to Iranian media in Tehran, this includes the president of the Iranian federation Mehdi Taj.
- Without a manager or press officer? -
"Mr. Trump should answer this question: If the team manager and press secretary are not present, who is supposed to attend the pre-match coordination meeting?" asked Amir Mahdi Alavi, spokesperson for the team, in a television interview. Iranian Football Federation, specifying that a letter had been sent to FIFA.
The Iranian selection will also have to enter and exit the United States on the same day of its matches, declared Saturday in Tijuana the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, who spoke to the press before the team's arrival later in the day.
“We can enter in the morning and we must leave the same day,” he said according to an official Spanish translation from Farsi.
The spokesperson for the federation had previously indicated that the players, who
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