TEHRAN
\nIranian FA (FFIRI) chief Mehdi Taj said that FIfa must guarantee that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is not insulted by the United States if the national team is to travel to the country to play at the World Cup in June.
\nAn FFIRI delegation, including Taj, turned back from the Canadian border last week because of what they said was disrespectful treatment at the hands of immigration officials as they tried to attend the Fifa Congress in Vancouver.
\nTaj said the decision to return home had been their own choice but Canada\u2019s immigration minister later confirmed to parliament that the FFIRI president\u2019s visa had been cancelled while he was in the air because of his links to the IRGC. Canada listed the IRGC, an elite military force in Iran, as a \u201cterrorist entity\u201d in 2024, five years after the US did the same.
\nFifa Secretary-General Mattias Grafstrom sent a letter expressing regret at the \u201cinconvenience and disappointment\u201d the Iranians had experienced in Canada and inviting FFIRI to Zurich on May 20 for a meeting about their World Cup preparations. Taj told state broadcaster IRIB on Tuesday that he would be seeking assurances from the governing body about the treatment of the Iranian delegation in the US.
\n\u201cWe need a guarantee there, for our trip, that they have no right to insult the symbols of our system \u2014 especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,\u201d he said on the sidelines of a pro-government night rally in Tehran.\u201d
\nThis is something they must pay serious attention to. If there is such a guarantee and the responsibility is clearly assumed, then an incident like what happened in Canada will not happen again.\u201d
\nThe US, Canada and Mexico are co-hosting the June 11 to July 19 World Cup with Iran scheduled to play two group games in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week Washington had no objections to Iranian players participating in the tournament but no one with ties to the IRGC would be admitted to the country.
\nTaj, who served as a high-ranking official with the IRGC in Isfahan Province before moving into soccer administration, said anything short of cast-iron guarantees could result in the Iranian delegation turning back at the US border. \u201cWe are going to the World Cup, for which we qualified, and our host is FIFA \u2014 not Mr Trump or America,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cIf they accept hosting us, then they must also accept that they must not insult our military institutions in any way.\u201dBecause if they do, then naturally it could create the same kind of situation that happened in Canada, where there was a possibility we might have to return.
\n\u201cSo there must be this kind of guarantee so that we can go with peace of mind.\u201d
\nIran\u2019s participation in the World Cup has been in question since the US and Israel launched air strikes on the Islamic Republic in late February. With Iranian top-flight football suspended, the home-based players have been in a training camp in Tehran preparing for the tournament. Taj said the FFIRI were hoping to set up at least one friendly with a \u201cvery good team\u201d in neighbouring Turkiye, where Iran played matches against Nigeria and Costa Rica in late March. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN Iranian FA (FFIRI) chief Mehdi Taj said that FIfa must guarantee that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is not insulted by the United States if the national team is to travel to the country to play at the World Cup in June. An FFIRI delegation, including Taj, turned back from the Canadian border […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-545086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n