US refuses to ease Iran World Cup travel restrictions for Belgium match

The United States has continued to assess the Iran squad's travel arrangements at the World Cup, but for now, the original plan remains in place despite the team saying they would lodge a complaint with FIFA, Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the tournament, told Reuters news agency.

Iran are unhappy at restrictions that mean they can only travel to venues within 24 hours of their fixtures and must depart back to their training base in Tijuana, Mexico, directly after each game, with coach Amir Ghalenoei suggesting his side were "the most oppressed team in the whole World Cup".

Giuliani, however, says the situation is fluid, and they will discuss what measures will be in place for Iran's third game against Egypt in Seattle on Friday, after their meeting with Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday.

"The situation is dynamic," Giuliani said in an exclusive interview in Houston.

"We have a plan right now. Tomorrow afternoon (after the match against Belgium) they will take the 27-minute flight back to Tijuana."

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"We will see how it goes for match two, and then there will be discussions the day after in terms of what it looks like for match three in Seattle."

Giuliani defended the measures in place and said the pre-tournament change in training bases for the side from Tucson to Tijuana had shortened Iran's travel time.

"The shift from Tucson to Tijuana, I think, was good for everybody involved, certainly it reduces their travel time to Los Angeles too," he said.

"Their flight is an hour shorter than it would be from Tucson. And we're happy with the way that things went for match one in Los Angeles. I would just point to the fact that all players have received visas. All the coaches have received visas. There are some team officials that have not received visas, and that's because we've seen some derogatory information on them, and this is the balance that we talk about."

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Source: TRT