World Cup first as US hosts wartime rival Iran

Iran’s national football team arrived in the United States for the first time at this World Cup on Sunday, landing at Los Angeles International Airport on the same day a peace deal between the two countries was announced.

Reuters reported that the Iranian squad made the short journey from Tijuana, Mexico, where they had been based, ahead of their opening match against New Zealand at Los Angeles Stadium on Monday, June 15, local time.

An A320 aircraft touched down on runway 25L at Los Angeles International Airport at 4.11pm ET on Sunday, or 3.11am on Monday in Thailand, under clear skies. The airport is about 15 minutes from Los Angeles Stadium, the venue for Iran’s World Cup opener.

Reports said the team were expected to head from the airport to their hotel, where a heavy police security presence was already in place. Officers had blocked parts of the pavement and installed security barriers outside the hotel.

Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei and striker Mehdi Taremi were scheduled to hold a press conference at Los Angeles Stadium at 6.45pm local time, or 5.45am on Monday in Thailand.

Iran’s Group G match against New Zealand will take place against the backdrop of the war between the United States and Iran, as well as the newly announced peace deal between the two countries. The tense political setting adds further weight to a match between two nations that have never previously met at a World Cup.

Late last month, Iran moved their training base from a sports complex in Arizona to Mexico after the United States and Israel conducted joint strikes on Iran in late February.

On the same day that the team arrived in Los Angeles, US President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on social media that the United States and Iran would formally sign an agreement to end the war in Switzerland on Friday, June 19.

As Iran’s squad flew to Los Angeles, a group of protesters calling for democracy in Iran marched near Los Angeles Stadium. They held placards reading: “No Shah - No Mullah in Iran - Regime Change by Iranians.”

Photographs and posters of athletes whom protesters said had died after being arrested by the Iranian government were placed on a busy street corner in Inglewood.

Rights groups and activists have said a crackdown on protests in Iran in January killed thousands, and possibly tens of thousands, of people. The incident was a source of deep anger for Mojgan Ramezani, a 56-year-old Iranian American who joined the rally.

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

Hassan Haddadi, 70, said he was frustrated that most governments around the world had done little to support change in Iran.

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

Earlier in Tijuana, as Iranian players left their hotel to board the team bus, supporters packed the pavement outside the hotel, standing five rows deep and chanting “Team Melli”, Persian for “national team”.

The players waved and smiled at the crowd, while some members of the delegation used their mobile phones to record the atmosphere.

One supporter held a yellow sign with black lettering that read: “Iran, you will never walk alone. Mexico stands with you.”

A young boy sat on an adult’s shoulders, clutching an official Panini FIFA World Cup 2026 sticker album opened to the Iran squad page.

At one point, the crowd chanted in Spanish: “Iran, brother, you are Mexican now.”

Iranian Football Federation president Mehdi Taj stood outside the hotel as the players left, while many supporters followed the team bus down the street until it drove away.

Tijuana has only around 20 Iranian residents, a tiny community compared with Los Angeles, which is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran and is sometimes known as “Tehrangeles”.

This marks the first World Cup since the tournament began in 1930 in which a host nation has welcomed a country with which it is at war.

Source: Reuters