What the US-Iran peace deal means for the ‘Team Melli’ World Cup campaign

Summary

The Iranian football team began their World Cup campaign under the shadow of a war with the United States. They soon became collateral damage in the conflict with strict conditions on their visas to the US and other difficulties. Now, as a peace deal emerges between the US and Iran, experts have asked what this could mean for Team Melli – as the Iranian squad is known – in the tournament. Although World Cup hosts have been at war with other nations at the time of tournaments, and Argentina was also in the midst of the Dirty War during the 1978 tournament, there has not been a single case of an organiser being embroiled in a conflict with another participant, as is the case with the US and Iran. Iran’s football team has been held hostage to the US’s immigration whims right up till the start of the tournament. Whether the team would even be allowed into the country remained unknown as FIFA President Gianni Infantino appeared unable to secure any guarantees from Trump about the Iranian team’s visa situation. While neither side has released a physical copy of the memorandum of understanding, nor are World Cup-specific arrangements expected to be written in, experts hope that the agreement translates to more amicable treatment for the Iranian football team in the US. “With a peace deal, things can change,” Mortazavi said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “We can see President Trump’s rhetoric on Iran has dramatically changed over the past few days, and he’s suddenly talking about better relationships with Iran from a political and economic standpoint, and that can certainly extend to sports,” she continued. A slight thawing of relations ahead of the peace deal announcement came as the US on Tuesday quickly reissued a multiple-entry visa for Iran winger Mehdi Torabi after his visa expired following the game with New Zealand. However, political scholar Niki Akhavan cautioned that Trump might renege on the deal due to the immense pressure he faces from Republican anti-Iran hardliners, pro-Israel groups and Democrats for giving Iran “too much” in the peace deal. “But, in the best-case scenario, issuing a multiple-entry visa for Torabi may be a good indication of some kind of flexibility on the US’s part to actually adhere to its responsibilities as a host nation,” Akhavan told Al Jazeera. “The comments Trump has made today on Iran are friendly comments, we might see better treatment of the Iran team, which has been unfairly treated the most. It’s a sign of them softening their unreasonable stance towards Iran.” Akhavan’s caution stood true as tensions at the World Cup reignited after the solitary goodwill gesture of Torabi’s visa renewal.