The Iranian national team is scheduled to hold and play its three group stage matches in the United States, despite the tensions and war currently taking place in the Middle East.
“We had an excellent and constructive meeting with the Iranian Football Federation,” Grafstrom said, adding that the two sides are working closely, and that FIFA looks forward to welcoming the Iranian national team to the tournament.
For his part, Iranian Federation President Mehdi Taj said that the meeting was “positive and constructive,” noting that existing concerns and the shared commitment to ensuring smooth participation of the team were discussed. On Thursday, Taj announced that visas had not yet been issued to the Iranian team.
The meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the Turkish Football Federation, comes before the Iranian team leaves on Monday morning for a training camp in Türkiye, in preparation for its later departure to the United States.
The Iranian national team hopes to play two friendly matches in Antalya, after it was confirmed that it will face Gambia on May 29, according to Sam Mehdi Zadeh, an Iranian-Canadian who runs a company that organizes friendly matches.
The team will enter the camp with a list of 30 players, which will later be reduced to 26 players, which is the number allowed in the World Cup.
The list included Porto striker Mehdi Taremi, while Sardar Azmoun, who scored 57 goals with the national team and previously played for Bayer Leverkusen and Roma, was absent.
Azmoun, who previously expressed his support for anti-regime demonstrators, was criticized by official Iranian media after a photo published in March in which he appeared alongside the Emir of Dubai, where he currently plays and resides.
Coach Amir Ghalinoi defended his choices, saying: “I swear to God that there was nothing other than technical standards in selecting the players.”
Iran has qualified for the World Cup for the fourth time in a row, and is scheduled to hold its base camp in Tucson, Arizona.
The Iranian national team begins its campaign in Group G by facing New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15, then meets Belgium in the same city, before facing Egypt in Seattle.
