Guests staying at a sprawling luxury resort on Turkey’s southwestern coast did not seem to notice the famous footballers in their midst.
Sipping tea, sharing jokes and scrolling their smartphones, the Iran men’s national soccer team did not appear to be at the center of one of the biggest political crises to engulf a major international sporting event. But they are.
Of the 48 teams competing at the World Cup, Iran’s presence is by far the most fraught. Ever since the United States and Israel jointly attacked Iran in late February, the team’s participation has been in doubt, subjected to scrutiny and confusion.
With less than two weeks until the start of the tournament, which the United States is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada, Iran is continuing preparations at a training camp in the coastal city of Antalya for three matches on the American West Coast. The players’ relaxed demeanor contrasted with an uncomfortable World Cup first: Never in the tournament’s nearly 100-year history has a host been at war with a qualified nation.
FIFA, soccer’s governing body, has said from the outset that Iran will participate as planned. But the team’s qualification has caused intense difficulties for FIFA, whose president, Gianni Infantino, has a close relationship with President Trump.
At a meeting this month in Turkey with FIFA’s second-ranking official, Iranian officials raised a number of concerns and demands, including about protests they might face and most urgently, entry visas.
No members of the team, its coaches or support staff had been issued visas as of Saturday, when the team issued a statement regarding a letter that it sent FIFA the previous day “requesting transparency and clarification regarding the visa issuance process.”
“FIFA was explicitly asked to provide a clear determination on this matter,” the statement said. “As of the time of this statement, no response or update has been received. Therefore, it should be noted that visas for both the United States and Mexico have not yet been issued for members of the Iran National Team delegation.”
Travel concerns surfaced early. Only some members of Iran’s delegation were granted entry into the United States for the tournament draw in December. Then in April the head of Iran’s soccer federation, Mehdi Taj, was turned back in Toronto, his visa to enter Canada canceled, as he was transiting to Vancouver for FIFA’s annual meeting. Mr. Taj is a former commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a group that Canada declared a terrorist entity in 2024, five years after the United States did.
Some Iranian players, including the team’s star striker and captain, Mehdi Taremi, served with the Revolutionary Guards for their mandatory military service.
Last month, hours after Mr. Infantino told FIFA members in Vancouver that Iran’s participation was not in doubt, Mr. Trump backed him up from the White House. “Well, if Gianni said it, I’m OK,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was also present, then said trainers or other officials with links to the I.R.G.C. would not be allowed into the United States.
Those comments have been met by statements from Iranian politicians and other officials demanding fair treatment.
This month, Iran’s World Cup training base was relocated from Tucson, Ariz., to Tijuana, Mexico, near the U.S. border, creating a last-minute need for visas for Mexico. The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said at a news conference that FIFA had asked her country for support because the “United States does not want the Iranian team staying overnight in the country.”
In Tijuana on Thursday, Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, lashed out at the United States during a visit to the team’s new base. Iran is scheduled to play two games in Los Angeles — against New Zealand and Belgium — and one in Seattle against Egypt, with plans to fly straight back to Mexico after each one.
“We don’t know whether or not they’re going to give the players their visas,” Mr. Pasandideh said at a news conference, adding that Iran “was not participating in the World Cup on equal terms” and that the war had disrupted the team’s preparations.
The mood was also somber in Tucson. Local officials had been preparing for Iran’s arrival but learned last Monday that the team would not be coming. Sarah Hanna, director of the Kino Sports Complex, said in an interview that local organizers were talking with FIFA about recovering costs they had incurred to meet tournament requirements.
In Turkey, where the players have been since a public send-off in Tehran that drew thousands of fans on May 13, the squad’s mood seemed light. At an evening scrimmage at a local practice field on Thursday, they were put through practice drills by fitness trainers and coaches.
The field, tucked alongside vegetable farms and far from public view, drew little interest beyond one local man in his 60s who could barely believe a World Cup-bound team was practicing there. He took a seat near a small press corps of about 10 Iranian journalists who had accompanied the team.
Anxious federation officials have asked that reporters’ questions to players focus exclusively on sporting matters.
But since the war began, this team has taken on greater meaning. In March, during a separate practice visit to Antalya, the players wore black armbands and held school bags as their anthem played before a friendly match. Team officials said it was a protest against the bombing of a school on the first day of the war, which killed more than 100 children. Officials this month said the World Cup team would refer to itself as the “Minab 168,” in memory of those who were killed.
Professional soccer in Iran has been suspended since the war began, and the team was sluggish in a practice match against Gambia the next day, falling behind early before rallying to win in an eerily empty stadium.
Mahdi Mohammad Nabi, the team’s longtime manager, said in a brief interview in Antalya afterward that FIFA had told Iranian officials they could expect to receive visas for both Mexico and the United States as soon as next week. “Hopefully, these issues will be resolved soon,” he said. FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.
The state of the war remains uncertain. A fragile cease-fire has been interrupted repeatedly by bouts of military action, even as peace talks continue. Saturday began with Mr. Trump weighing a decision on a proposal to end the war.
For the Iranian players, it was just another day: practicing for a World Cup they can only hope to play in.
