Iran officials leave Canada before FIFA Congress over airport ‘insult’, according to Iranian media

Top Iranian football officials returned to Turkey on the first flight due to the "inappropriate behaviour of the immigration officials at the airport," Iranian media is reporting, (AFP)

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Top Iranian football officials left Canada before the start of this week’s FIFA Congress due to the behaviour of immigration officials during checks at Toronto’s international airport, Iranian media reported Wednesday.

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The global football body’s gathering of member nation representatives will be held this week in Vancouver, the British Columbia city which is also hosting seven matches in the World Cup that Canada will co-host with the United States and Mexico this summer.

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The Iranian football federation (FFIRI) president, secretary general and deputy secretary general “returned to Turkey on the first flight due to the inappropriate behaviour of the immigration officials at the airport and the insult to one of the most honourable organs of the Iranian Armed Forces”, several outlets reported, without providing further details.

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In 2024, Canada designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terror group, barring its members from entering the country.

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The Iranian federation’s president Mehdi Taj is a former IRGC member.

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The Iranian reports said the officials had travelled to Canada with “official visas” before turning around.

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Canada said it couldn’t comment on specific cases due to privacy laws but affirmed in a statement sent to AFP that “IRGC officials are inadmissible to Canada and have no place in our country.”

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“We have taken strong action to hold the IRGC to account and will continue to do so,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said.

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Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said last month that removing IRGC officials from Canada is a “top priority”, amid reports that hundreds of IRGC members have residency permits for Canada, which has one of the world’s largest Iranian diaspora populations.

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Doubt has risen over the Iranian team’s attendance at the World Cup because of the Middle East war that began on February 28 with a massive wave of US-Israel attacks.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted last week that Iran’s footballers would be welcome at the global spectacle.

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But he warned that the United States may yet bar entry to members of the Iranian delegation it judged to have ties to the Revolutionary Guard, which is also designated a terrorist organisation by Washington and several other governments.

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No one “from the US has told them they can’t come”, Rubio said.

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FFIRI had said it was negotiating with FIFA to relocate the country’s World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico.

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But FIFA President Gianni Infantino told AFP last month that Iran would be at the World Cup and that they would play “where they are supposed to be, according to the draw.”

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The FIFA chief reiterated that stance in Washington earlier this month.

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