Players of the Iranian national team were detained at the US border while leaving the country

Iran's national soccer team has faced organizational problems while moving between cities for the 2026 World Cup in the United States. According to RMC Sport, immediately after the match against New Zealand (), part of the team's delegation encountered delays during border control and clearance from the United States. Two players have reportedly been temporarily detained due to increased checks. Among them is team captain Mehdi Taremi, who, together with his teammate, underwent additional procedural checks. According to the source, the problems arose not only because of standard security checks. One of the football players faced an additional complication — his visa expired after a one-time entry into the United States. Because of this, he had to urgently issue an extension of his residence permit. The Iranian Football Federation said the situation had been brought under control and the relevant services were already working to restore the documents so that the players could join the team for the next stage of training. Despite the delay, the team was later able to continue their journey to a training camp in Mexico, where they are preparing for the next matches of the tournament.