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The Iran Football Federation (FFIRI) stated on Tuesday (local time) that their winger Mehdi Torabi's visa had expired following a single visit to the United States for the team's FIFA World Cup 2026 opener in Los Angeles.
"While multiple-entry visas were issued for the team's players to travel to the United States, Mehdi Torabi's visa was valid for only one entry," an FFIRI spokesman said, as quoted by Reuters. "Following the team's trip to Los Angeles for the match against New Zealand and the completion of that game, his visa has now expired. The Iran Football Federation has taken action to obtain a new visa for Torabi so that he can continue to accompany the national team in its upcoming matches." As per Reuters, Iran is commuting from their tournament base in the Mexican border city of Tijuana for their three World Cup group-stage matches, the first two in Los Angeles and the third in Seattle. Iran and New Zealand played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in their World Cup opener at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. New Zealand took an early lead through Elijah Just, but Iran equalised via Ramin Rezaeian before half-time. New Zealand regained the advantage in the second half through Just's second goal, set up by Chris Wood, but Iran responded again with Mohammad Mohebbi's header to level the score as both teams ultimately shared the points in a tightly contested Group G encounter. Iran arrived at the World Cup amid ongoing geopolitical tensions with the United States and Israel. Iran had even shifted their World Cup base camp from Arizona to the Mexican city of Tijuana following uncertainty surrounding entry arrangements to the United States. The move came after weeks of concern over whether members of the Iranian delegation would receive the necessary visas to travel for the tournament. (ANI)
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