Iran’s soccer team arrived in the United States for the first time at this World Cup on Sunday, landing at Los Angeles International Airport and holding a press conference on the same day a peace deal between the two nations was announced.
The Iranian team arrived after a short flight from Tijuana, Mexico, where they left their base camp earlier to a rousing send-off ahead of their opening match against New Zealand at the Los Angeles Stadium on Monday.
“I am very happy to represent the great, proud and strong nation of Iran,” Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said through a translator at a press conference at the stadium.
“I hope that football will bring joy and enjoyment and bring cultures and countries closer together.”
The team’s Group G match against New Zealand will be played against the backdrop of the US war with Iran and the recently announced peace deal, adding a charged atmosphere to a contest between two nations who have never met at a World Cup.
Iran moved its World Cup base camp from a sports complex in Arizona to Mexico late last month after the US and Israel carried out joint strikes on Iran that began in late February.
Iran will now have to travel from Mexico to the United States for each of their three group games, and Ghalenoei said the travel and the denial of visas to the United States for some members of their soccer association had negatively affected the squad.
The agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war will be signed in 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, be it the Iranians in Iran or the Iranian diaspora.”
‘Mexico stands with you’
Earlier in Tijuana, supporters queuing five-deep on a packed sidewalk outside Iran’s hotel chanted “Team Melli” — Persian for “national team” — as the Iranian players emerged from the hotel and headed toward the waiting bus.
Many of the players waved and smiled at those gathered, while some members of the delegation took video of the scene with their phones.
One supporter held a yellow sign with black writing: “Iran, you will never walk alone. Mexico stands with you.”
A young boy sitting on another’s shoulders grabbed the official Panini Fifa World Cup 2026 sticker album open on Iran’s team side.
At one point, the crowd chanted in Spanish: “Iran, brother, you’re Mexican now.”
Iran Football Federation president Mehdi Taj stood outside the hotel as the players, along with 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 the “Tehrangeles” has taken root.
This is the first World Cup since its inception in 1930 where a host nation has hosted a country it is at war with.
