\n<\/p>\n
By <\/span>Reuters and The Associated Press<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Published On 30 Apr 2026<\/span>30 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u2060An Iranian football federation delegation says it turned back at Toronto\u2019s main airport this week, citing their treatment by Canadian immigration, and is set to miss a pre-World Cup FIFA gathering in Vancouver.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Tasnim News Agency reported on Wednesday that the delegation members, including federation President Mehdi Taj, Secretary-General Hedayat Mombeni and his deputy, Hamed Momeni, turned back \u2060\u2060upon arrival at Toronto\u2019s Pearson airport despite holding valid visas, citing what was described as the \u201cunacceptable behaviour of immigration officials\u201d.<\/p>\n The Iranian delegation was en route to Vancouver for Thursday\u2019s FIFA Congress, which is meant to bring together representatives of all 211 member associations before the World Cup being cohosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Mehdi Taj, president, Hedayat Mombeni, secretary-general, and Hamed Momeni, deputy secretary-general of the federation, had travelled to Toronto \u2060\u2060with official visas to attend the FIFA Congress, they returned to Turkiye on the first available flight due to the unacceptable behaviour of immigration officials at the airport and the insult to one of the most honourable organs of the Iranian nation\u2019s armed forces,\u201d the Iran football federation said in a statement.<\/p>\n In 2024, Canada listed Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, and statements from the Canadian government indicated that Taj was denied entry due to his alleged ties with the IRGC.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we cannot comment on individual cases due to privacy laws, the government has been clear and consistent: IRGC officials are inadmissible to Canada and have no place in our country,\u201d the Canadian government said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have taken strong action to hold the IRGC to account and will continue to \u200c\u200cdo so, while protecting the safety of Canadians and upholding the integrity of our immigration system.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said it was her \u201cunderstanding\u201d that Iranian football officials were denied entry into the country but added that the denial was \u201cunintentional\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not my personal lead, but my understanding is that there is a revocation of the permission. It was unintentional, but I\u2019ll leave it to the minister to indicate,\u201d Anand said, apparently referring to Immigration Minister Lena Diab.<\/p>\n Canada\u2019s Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said he could not speak about specific cases due to privacy legislation, but IRGC members were not welcome in Canada.<\/p>\n The incident that occurred on Tuesday underscores the practical and political obstacles surrounding Iran\u2019s participation in the World Cup, the most politically sensitive item on FIFA\u2019s agenda since the US and Israel launched a war on Iran in February.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s qualification has not removed hurdles tied to travel, visas and security in a tournament staged in three countries.<\/p>\n While FIFA has insisted fixtures will proceed as scheduled, the delegation\u2019s withdrawal deepens doubts over whether Iranian players, officials and supporters will be able to move freely across borders during the tournament.<\/p>\n FIFA has since contacted the Iranian delegation to express regret over the incident and indicated that President Gianni Infantino \u2060\u2060would arrange a meeting with them at the organisation\u2019s headquarters, the Tasnim report added.<\/p>\n The FIFA Congress \u2060\u2060is usually a routine gathering, but carries greater weight this year with the World Cup less than two months away and several \u2060\u2060questions, including cost and Iran\u2019s participation, still hanging over the first 48-team edition of the tournament.<\/p>\n The Iranian officials were also unable to attend Tuesday\u2019s Asian Football Confederation congress, which was held in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n By Reuters and The Associated Press Published On 30 Apr 202630 Apr 2026 \u2060An Iranian football federation delegation says it turned back at Toronto\u2019s main airport this week, citing their treatment by Canadian immigration, and is set to miss a pre-World Cup FIFA gathering in Vancouver. Iran\u2019s Tasnim News Agency reported on Wednesday that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"