ANTALYA, Turkey (AFP) — Iran’s World Cup squad left Turkey for Mexico on Saturday, taking off under the shadow of a bitter diplomatic row between Tehran and Washington after the United States (US) refused to issue visas for some of the team’s support squad.

The dispute erupted just days before the June 11 start of the 2026 World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The team took off around 6:10 pm (1510 GMT) for Tijuana in northwest Mexico, where they will be based for the duration of the tournament, on what was expected to be a 20-hour flight, Iranian state TV reported.

The team “took off this evening for Mexico to participate in the World Cup after” training in Turkey, it said.

Team Melli had spent nearly three weeks at a training camp in Antalya, using their time in Turkey to apply for visas to travel to Mexico, Canada and the United States.

On the eve of their departure for Mexico, the players received their US visas, Washington’s envoy to Turkey Tom Barrack said on X late Friday.

But Iran’s embassy to Turkey said a “large” number of managerial and executive staff and others had been denied visas, prompting a furious response.

“You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level,” the embassy wrote on X on Saturday.

“FIFA must hold the US accountable for violations of its rules and for the discriminatory treatment of Iran’s national football team.”

Iranian state TV said the players and their technical staff had received visas, but 15 others on the administrative and management side had not. It said the matter would be followed up in Mexico.

Iran’s Football Federation, whose chief Mehdi Taj was reportedly among those denied a visa, also hit out, describing the decision as “political interference in sport in its worst form”.

“By extending its hostile behaviour towards the Iranian nation into the field of sport, the… US government has deprived Iran’s national team of… the opportunity to compete without discrimination,” it said, pledging to pursue the matter with FIFA.

In response, a US administration official confirmed that “the visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued”.

Without directly addressing the matter of those whose visas were refused, the official added: “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences.”