One week ago, it was reported that Iran would boycott the FIFA World Cup draw in Washington DC, to be held this Friday, with representatives from the delegations of every country expected to participate at the FIFA event next summer. But, because the United States denied the visas to several members of the Iranian delegation, including the federation president Mehdi Taj, the full Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) said that nobody would go, saying to FIFA president Gianni Infantino that it was "purely a political position".
However, one week later, only 24 hours before the draw, things changed. On Thursday, the Iranian sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, said to the Iranian news agency Irna that their head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, would attend the event. "Our representatives have a visa and should participate in the World Cup draw", he said.
It is unclear why he changed his mind. There have been concerns that the arrival of millions of visitors to the US, which co-hosts the competition between June and July 2025, will be problematic as some of the participating countries, like Iran or Haiti, are in the list of 19 countries whose citizens are restricted from entering the US since a directive order issued by Donald Trump in June 2025.
Athletes, coaches, and other personal staff will be given an exemption, but Iran has already found that not every member of their delegations will be cleared to enter their country, at least initially. At the same time, some human rights organisations are voicing their concerns about the mistreatment of fans entering the country, according to The Guardian.