Fifa World Cup: Iran FA chief wants guarantee country’s special forces will not be insulted
Mehdi Taj, who turned back from Canadian border over ‘disrespectful treatment’, says the assurance is needed for the team to take part
Iranian FA (FFIRI) chief Mehdi Taj says Fifa must guarantee that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are not insulted by the United States if the national team are to travel to the country to play at the World Cup in June.
An FFIRI delegation, including Taj, turned back from the Canadian border last week because of what they said was disrespectful treatment at the hands of immigration officials as they tried to attend the Fifa Congress in Vancouver.
Taj said the decision to return home had been their own choice but Canada’s immigration minister later confirmed to Parliament that the FFIRI president’s visa had been cancelled while he was in the air because of his links to the IRGC.
Canada listed the IRGC, an elite military force whose purpose is to protect Shiite Muslim clerical rule in Iran, as a “terrorist entity” in 2024, five years after the US did the same.
Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafstrom sent a letter expressing regret at the “inconvenience and disappointment” the Iranians had experienced in Canada and inviting FFIRI to Zurich on May 20 for a meeting about their World Cup preparations.
Taj told state broadcaster IRIB on Tuesday that he would be seeking assurances from the governing body about the treatment of the Iranian delegation in the US.