With Iran set for World Cup match at SoFi, L.A. Iranians see glimmers of unity

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Iran’s World Cup team arrived in Tijuana last week bearing gold lapel pins on their jackets honoring the 168 victims, most of them schoolgirls, killed in a Feb.28 U.S.

missile strike on an elementary school in southern Iran at the outset of the war.The World Cup kicked off last week as that war in the Middle East continues, with Iran set to open play against New Zealand on Monday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.It’s significant that the game will take place in the Los Angeles area, home to the largest Iranian population outside Iran.While Iran will play in the U.S., its players won’t be allowed to stay here.

The team moved its training base from Tucson to Tijuana last month because of visa hurdles and other travel restrictions levied by the Trump administration.All of the 26 Iranian players were granted visas to play, but they will be forced to commute from Mexico.Several team officials had their visas denied at the last minute, and more than a dozen members of the Iranian delegation — mostly administrative, executive and technical staff — do not have permission to enter the U.S.The State Department said in a statement to ESPN that it issued “the necessary visas” and suggested the Iranian team could “abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States.”The Iranian Football Federation argues that the denial of visas to key staff constitutes political interference and violates the guarantees the U.S.

made in 2018 to secure the rights to host the World Cup.FIFA, for its part, says it has no authority over a host country’s border enforcement and cannot override the U.S.But when Indonesian government officials said they would prohibit Israeli players and officials from entering for the U20 World Cup in 2023, FIFA made accommodations for the tournament to be held in Argentina, where Israel finished third.The United States is the first host nation...