Iran will stage its last World Cup warm-up match in Turkey behind closed doors on Tuesday, before the squad flies to their tournament base in Mexico on Saturday, the Iranian FA (FFIRI) has confirmed.
Even though the country was among the earliest qualifiers, Iran’s presence at the World Cup has been uncertain since the United States and Israel launched air strikes on the Islamic Republic in late February.
Since the outbreak of the war, the squad has played three friendlies across two training camps in Antalya. They lost to Nigeria but later defeated Costa Rica and Gambia, and they will now meet Mali in today’s match in the Turkish seaside resort.
“Given the significance of the friendly between the Iranian national team and Mali, and in line with the tactical aims of the head coach, the encounter with Mali tomorrow will be conducted behind closed doors and without media participation,” FFIRI said in a statement.
FFIRI also secured FIFA approval to relocate Iran’s tournament base. The team will move from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico, and from there travel back and forth across the border for their opening two Group G fixtures against New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles.
Iran’s third and final Group G match, against Egypt, is scheduled for Seattle.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington has “no problem” with the Iranian team entering the United States, but that it will not permit any officials or staff members with links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to accompany the party.
Rubio said during a House of Representatives committee hearing: “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, so we were going to watch that very closely.”
Both the United States and Canada—co-hosts of the World Cup alongside Mexico—treat the IRGC as a “terrorist entity.”
FFIRI president Mehdi Taj was turned away at the Canadian border for the FIFA Congress in late April due to his connections with the powerful military organisation.
Iran’s World Cup campaign begins with their match against New Zealand on June 15.
