The Trump administration cleared Iran's soccer players to compete at the 2026 World Cup while turning away the IRGC-linked officials who tried to travel with them. The athletes get in. The regime's men do not.
The White House was blunt:
"We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses."
Players, coaches, and necessary support staff received visas. Thirteen members of Iran's Football Federation delegation did not, including the federation President, Mehdi Taj, and security chief, Mehdi Malekabad. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed it is "steadfast in our commitment to the safety and security of the American people and attendees of the 2026 FIFA World Cup" and said it is involved in securing all eleven host city sites across the country.
Iran's federation demanded that FIFA pressure the United States into reversing the denials. The administration has been building to this moment for months. Federation officials with IRGC ties were turned away from a World Cup draw event in Washington last December. Iranian soccer executives were blocked from a football confederation meeting in Canada in April. Taj was detained and questioned by Canadian immigration officials over his IRGC ties at a FIFA Congress in Vancouver before deciding not to enter the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers this week exactly where the line is :
"We have no problem with the athletes, as we stated earlier, or their support staff. But what we're not going to allow is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that nature."
He added that he did not expect similar problems with any other country at the tournament. The IRGC is a designated terrorist organization under U.S. and Canadian law, and several players in Iran's squad completed mandatory military service within it.
The visa issue has shadowed Iran's entire World Cup preparation. The team spent months training at a beachside hotel in Antalya, Turkey, after war broke out in February, applying for U.S. visas at the American embassy in Ankara and waiting to learn whether they would be permitted to play at all. Iran qualified for the tournament in March 2025, nearly a year before the conflict began.
Read More: SoFi Stadium Union to FIFA: Forget World Cup Security, Think of the Illegals
Iran has been training in Tijuana, Mexico, after moving its camp from Tucson, Arizona. The squad must enter and exit the United States on the same day as each match. Iran opens against New Zealand on June 15 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, then plays Belgium on June 21 in Los Angeles and Egypt on June 27 in Seattle.
Iran's embassy called the visa denials "politically biased interference in sport.” A country that arms proxy militias across the Middle East, objecting to American border enforcement, is rich. FIFA, which spent months lobbying for Iran's unrestricted access to U.S. soil, has gone quiet.
President Trump let the athletes compete and kept the bad actors out. The players will be on the field. The IRGC-tied officials who tried to enter with them will not.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
Help us continue to report on the administration’s peace through strength foreign policy and its successes. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member