SOCCER: Iran team arrive in US for World Cup opener as US and Iran reach peace deal

LOS ANGELES/TIJUANA, Mexico — Iran’s national soccer team arrived in the United States on Sunday for the first time in this World Cup campaign, landing at Los Angeles International Airport and immediately holding a press conference on the same day that a U.S.-Iran peace deal was announced.

The squad traveled from Tijuana, Mexico, where they had been based at their training camp. They departed earlier in the day and received a warm sendoff before heading to Los Angeles for their opening match against New Zealand at Los Angeles Stadium on Monday.

“I am very happy to be representing the great, proud and strong nation of Iran,” Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei said through a translator during a press conference at the stadium.

“I hope that football will bring joy and enjoyment, and bring cultures and countries closer together.”

The Group G match against New Zealand comes amid heightened political tension, with the backdrop of recent conflict between the United States and Iran and a newly announced peace agreement. The development adds further intensity to a fixture between two nations that have never met at a World Cup.

Iran had relocated its World Cup base camp from a sports complex in Arizona to Mexico late last month following joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets that began earlier this year.

As a result, the team will now travel from Mexico into the United States for each of its three group-stage matches. Ghalenoei said the arrangement, along with visa restrictions affecting some members of the football federation, had disrupted the team’s preparations.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on social media Sunday that a formal agreement to end the conflict would be signed Friday in Switzerland.

Protests outside stadium

While the Iranian squad arrived in Los Angeles, protesters gathered near the stadium calling for political change in Iran and criticizing its government.

Placards reading “No Shah — No Mullah in Iran — Regime Change by Iranians” were displayed, while posters along nearby streets honored athletes activists said were killed after arrests in Iran.

Mojgan Ramezani, 56, an Iranian American at the protest, criticized the Iranian government’s treatment of its citizens.

“They’re holding hostage their own people,” she said.

Another protester, Hassan Haddadi, 70, said international governments had not done enough to support political change.

“We’re hoping to bring awareness to the Western world, to do something beyond just condemning, to bring an end to this regime,” he said.

Ghalenoei emphasized that the team is focused solely on football.

“We are not political people,” he said. “We are here to play football and represent the respectful people of Iran, both those inside the country and the Iranian diaspora.”

Support in Mexico

Earlier in Tijuana, fans gathered outside Iran’s hotel, lining the sidewalks five people deep as the team prepared to depart. Supporters chanted “Team Melli,” the Persian nickname for the national team, as players emerged and boarded their bus.

Many players waved and smiled, while some staff members recorded the scenes on their phones.

One supporter held a sign reading, “Iran, you will never walk alone. Mexico stands with you.”

A child in the crowd held up a Panini FIFA World Cup sticker album opened to the Iran squad page.

At one point, fans sang in Spanish: “Iran, brother, you are Mexican now.”

Iran Football Federation president Mehdi Taj stood outside the hotel as the team departed, with supporters following the bus as it made its way through the streets.

Although the Iranian community in Tijuana is small, estimated at around 20 people, Los Angeles is home to one of the largest Iranian diasporas in the world. The region, often referred to as “Tehrangeles,” has been a major hub for Iranian Americans for decades.

This marks the first time in World Cup history that a host nation is receiving a country it is currently in conflict with. -Reporting by Herbert Villarraga in Tijuana and Ed White, Hatem Maher and Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Writing by Frank Pingue in Toronto, Ossian Shine in New York, Editing by Ken Ferris and Ed Osmond/Reuters