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Iran move World Cup base to Mexico amid US tensions

MEXICAN President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she has “no issue” with her country hosting Iran’s World Cup team after its training base was moved from the United States to Mexico for the summer tournament.

The team will still play their group stage matches in the US, but its base has been moved to Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego, California, a move that Iran’s football federation announced recently and that was formally confirmed by Fifa on Monday.

Moving the training base comes against the backdrop of the war in Iran, which the US and Israel launched on February 28.

Sheinbaum said at a news conference on Monday that she had been told by a Fifa representative the US was reluctant to have the Iranian football team spend time outside the games on US territory.

“The United States doesn’t want the Iranian national team to stay overnight in the United States,” Sheinbaum told reporters. She said a Fifa representative had then asked, “Can they stay overnight in Mexico?”

“And we said, ‘Yes, no problem. We have no issue with that’,” she added.

Iran’s football team is set to play matches in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and against Belgium six days later, before facing Egypt on June 26 in Seattle.

The possibility of a move had simmered for months in the uncertainty surrounding the war in the Middle East and security concerns. US sanctions on Iran were likely to only make the team’s stay in the US more complex.

The US State Department said in a statement on Monday that President Donald Trump had made it clear the Iranian team were welcome to participate in the tournament.

The department’s statement did not address where the team might stay, or Sheinbaum’s comments.

Sheinbaum said that her government was working with Fifa to hash out all the details before the competition.

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