Iranian football chief Mehdi Taj said on Wednesday he will meet with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the next three or four days, seeking guarantees that his country will be respected at the World Cup in the United States.
Canada, which is hosting the World Cup along with the US and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, said last week it was refusing entry to Taj because of its ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Taj said on Tuesday that Iran would not participate in the tournament if FIFA could not guarantee respect for the country’s institutions in the US, where the team will be based and play all three group matches.
«We will tell (FIFA) what our expectations are. If they can meet them, we will definitely participate,» the FFIRI president told the state broadcaster. IRIB in Tehran on Wednesday.
«But if there is no guarantee that they will be addressed, no one has the right to insult us or the pillars of our system. And if they continue on the path of disrespect, and even ask these kinds of questions to our players, we may make a different decision.»
Both the US and Canada classify the IRGC as a “terrorist entity” and have made it clear that they will not admit people associated with the military elite.
Taj, who served as a senior official in the IRGC before moving into football administration, received support from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei for his stance on Wednesday.
“Look, our national football team is not ‘traveling’ to the United States, but we are going there to participate in the FIFA World Cup,” Baghaei told reporters in Tehran.
«It is therefore FIFA’s responsibility to provide all necessary facilities and conditions. Host governments also have a very clear obligation under FIFA regulations to make the necessary arrangements and issue the required visas without regard to political considerations or motives. We hope that FIFA, if only to maintain its own credibility, will certainly take the necessary measures.»
Iran’s participation in the World Cup has been in question since the US and Israel launched airstrikes on the Islamic Republic in late February, sparking war in the region.
Taj also said a wider 30-man squad would be selected for the tournament this week, before being whittled down to the final 26 players after a training camp in Turkey.
Iranian coach Amir Ghalenoei told state media that the team planned to arrive in the US 14 days before the start of the tournament after the two-week camp.
Ghalenoei said he would like the team to play two or three warm-up matches, but attempts to set up friendlies had proven difficult with teams pulling out at the last minute.
The team will therefore stay in Tehran for another week before leaving for Turkey, where Iran played friendly matches against Costa Rica and Nigeria at the end of March, on May 16.
Team Melli will start their campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15. The team’s U.S. base will be located at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona.
Published on May 7, 2026
