The Iranian football chief, Mehdi Taj, has declared their intent in the World Cup, declaring that “our World Cup host is FIFA, not Trump or America.”
He said this in lieu of the fighting duel between the two countries and called for respect towards the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in case the Iranian national team is to travel to the United States for the summer’s tournament.
Earlier on, doubts about Iranian participation in the FIFA World Cup have circulated due to the crisis with Iran, US and Israel.
Chief Mehdi Taj made the declaration after he departed from the Canadian border before his meeting at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver, where he felt disrespected by the immigration officials.
Taj said the decision to return home was their own choice, but Canada’s immigration minister 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.
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Meanwhile, the IRGC, which was set up to defend Iran’s Islamic system, has turned into a military, political and economic force in the country. However, this makes Canada and the US list the group as a terrorist organisation.
The FIFA secretary general, Mattias Grafstrom, wrote to express regret for the “inconvenience and disappointment”; he later invited Iran FFIRI to Zurich for a meeting about their World Cup preparations on 20 May.
Mehdi Taj, who served as a high-ranking IRGC official, told state broadcaster the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Tuesday that he would seek assurances from the governing body about the treatment of Iranian officials at the World Cup.
“We need a guarantee there, for our trip, that they have no right to insult the symbols of our system – especially the IRGC,” Taj said.
“This is something they must pay serious attention to. If there is such a guarantee and the responsibility is clearly assumed, then an incident like what happened in Canada will not happen again.”
Earlier on, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced that no one with ties to the IRGC would be admitted to the country for the FIFA World Cup.
“We are going to the World Cup, for which we qualified, and our host is FIFA, not Mr Trump or America,” Taj said.
“If they accept hosting us, then they must also accept that they must not insult our military institutions in any way.
“Because if they do, then naturally it could create the same kind of situation that happened in Canada, where there was a possibility we might have to return.
“So there must be this kind of guarantee so that we can go with peace of mind.”
Iran was the only FIFA federation among the 211 member countries that did not have representation at the FIFA congress in Vancouver.
FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, said Iran would be going to the US and playing as scheduled despite Iran’s request in March for its matches to be moved to Mexico.
