Iran ordered out of US hours after World Cup opener

Iran’s World Cup trip took another abrupt turn when coach Amir Ghalenoei said the national football team was ordered out of the United States only hours after its 2-2 opener against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area. The squad had expected to stay in California overnight to recover before its next assignment, but instead flew back to its training base in Tijuana, Mexico.

Ghalenoei said he was not given a reason for the order and did not identify who issued it. The move underscored how tightly controlled Iran’s tournament travel had become, with reports before the opener saying the delegation would be allowed into the United States only on match days and would have to leave afterward. That arrangement left the team shuttling across the border for games while trying to maintain normal World Cup preparations.

The friction had been building long before the match against New Zealand. Iran’s soccer federation said the United States denied visas to key managerial and administrative members of the delegation, and it accused the United States of “vindictive behavior” over the refusals. Iran had originally planned to use Tucson, Arizona, as its training base, but shifted to Tijuana amid the visa dispute and the uncertainty surrounding its travel.

Iran’s arrival in Mexico came after months of tension around its participation, with political conflict between Iran and the United States hanging over the team’s logistics as much as its football. The World Cup itself also carried an unusually charged atmosphere in Los Angeles, where spectators at Iran’s first game included people who came to protest the regime in Tehran.

For Iran, the result on the field was only part of the story. The 2-2 draw with New Zealand kept the team alive in the tournament, but the hurried return to Mexico highlighted how security concerns, diplomatic breakdowns and tournament hosting rules were shaping the experience for a politically sensitive delegation. What should have been a standard post-match recovery period became another reminder that for Iran, this World Cup has been played under the pressure of geopolitics as much as sport.