"We hope Mr Infantino will indeed implement the words and promises he made to the Iran national team." That's not a frustrated fan talking — that's Mahdi Mohammad Nabi, Iran's World Cup team supervisor, addressing the FIFA president directly after 15 Iranian federation members were denied US visas ahead of the tournament.
Nabi, who has overseen Iran's operations at the last two World Cups in Russia and Qatar, spoke to Reuters on Thursday evening from the Marriott Hotel in Tijuana — where Iran's squad has been forced to relocate after abandoning their original Arizona training base due to the same visa chaos. This is how a World Cup team prepares for a tournament their host nation is technically at war with.
A chaos nobody planned for — except maybe they should have
The players themselves got their US visas just 10 days before Monday's opening match against New Zealand near Los Angeles. The federation staff? Largely still locked out. Nabi said he had never experienced "such lack of coordination" at a World Cup in his career, and he's been to three of them.
Meanwhile, Gianni Infantino stood in Mexico City on Wednesday and essentially told the world to "chill, relax" — arguing FIFA cannot dictate immigration decisions to host nations. That's technically true. But FIFA awarded a co-hosted World Cup to a country that has an active military conflict with a qualified nation. The organisation of the consequences falls squarely on them.
The US State Department was blunt, saying it "will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the US under false pretenses." Nabi declined to respond to that framing. "We are here to talk about sports," he said. Given the circumstances, that composure is remarkable.
What this actually costs Iran on the pitch
Player Saeid Ezzatollahi confirmed the squad has accepted that families won't be able to attend any of their three US-based group games. He also noted the war back home has weighed on the players even as they train. "We're taking this opportunity and have to step up to fight for what we call love. And this love for us is football."
That's not a PR line — it's the reality of what this squad is dealing with. Disrupted preparation, skeleton staff, no family support, and a home country under bombardment. Iran's odds for any kind of deep run reflect a team already under pressure before a ball is kicked. The visa situation has made it measurably worse.
This is the first World Cup since 1930 in which a host nation is at war with a competing team. No protocol existed for this. Iran are the only team that has faced federation-wide visa denials. And Infantino told everyone to relax.
