The Iranian soccer team arrived in the United States for the first time this Sunday for this World Cup, landing at Los Angeles International Airport and offering a press conference on the same day that a peace agreement between both nations was announced.
Team Iran arrived after a short flight from Tijuana, Mexico, where they left their base camp before a rousing farewell before their opening match against New Zealand at Los Angeles Stadium on Monday.
“I am very happy to represent the great, proud and strong nation of Iran,” Iranian coach Amir Ghalenoei said through a translator at a news conference at the stadium.
“I hope that football brings joy and enjoyment, and brings cultures and countries closer together.”
The team’s Group G match against New Zealand will be played against the backdrop of the United States’ war with Iran and the newly announced peace deal, adding a charged atmosphere to a competition between two nations that have never met in a World Cup.
Iran moved its World Cup base camp from a sports complex in Arizona to Mexico late last month after the United States and Israel carried out joint attacks on Iran beginning in late February.
Iran will now have to make the trip from Mexico to the United States for each of its three group matches and Ghalenoei said the trip and the denial of visas to the United States for some members of its soccer federation had negatively affected the team.
The US-Iran deal to end the war will be signed during an official ceremony on Friday in Switzerland, US President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on social media on Sunday.
Ghalenoei said the team’s players and coaches were “not political people.”
“We are here to play football and represent the respectful people of Iran, whether it is the Iranians within Iran or the Iranian diaspora.”
‘Mexico is with you’
Earlier in Tijuana, fans formed five lines on a packed sidewalk in front of Iran’s hotel chanting “Team Melli” (Persian for national team) as the Iranian players left the hotel and walked toward the waiting bus.
Many of the players waved and smiled at those who had gathered while some members of the delegation filmed the scene with their phones.
One supporter held a yellow sign with black letters that read: “Iran, you will never walk alone. Mexico is with you.”
A boy sitting on someone’s shoulders held Panini’s official 2026 FIFA World Cup sticker album, open to Iran’s team page.
At one point, the crowd chanted in Spanish: “Iran, brother, you’re Mexican now.”
The president of the Iranian football federation, Mehdi Taj, remained outside the hotel as the players left and many of the supporters followed the bus down the street as it drove away.
The Iranian community in Tijuana is small (about 20 people) and much smaller than that of Los Angeles, which is home to the largest Iranian community outside of Iran.
Tens of thousands of Iranian Americans live in Los Angeles, where a distinct diaspora often referred to as “Tehrangeles” has taken root.
This is the first World Cup since its inception in 1930 in which a host nation hosts a country with which it is at war.
