The president of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, said that Canadian authorities cleared him to enter the country for the FIFA (International Football Federation) Congress, but that the Iranian delegation chose to return after being detained for three hours and interrogated at a Toronto airport.
Taj, a former member of the CGRI (Guardian Corps of the Islamic Revolution of Iran), stated that he was questioned by Canadian immigration about his ties to the group. He was eventually allowed into the country for the pre-World Cup meeting in Vancouver.
CGRI members are banned from entering Canada, which will host the World Cup starting in June along with the United States and Mexico.
“We all had visas and were even checked in Turkey. They told us they had questions for us and asked if we were members of the Guard,” Taj told Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
“We told them that there are 90 million members of the CGRI in Iran. They said they don’t allow people from this organization. They said it’s the laws of their country,” he said.
“After a while, they said we could come in, but we decided to go back. They didn’t deport us, we decided to go back on our own. I told the Canadians: ‘You kept us at the airport for three hours, you made us wait for nothing,” he added.
According to Taj, FIFA president Gianni Infantino offered to send a jet to take the Iranian delegation to Canada after they returned to Türkiye. The proposal was refused.
“I told the FIFA secretary general [Mattias Grafstrom]: ‘You are intimidated by America and say ‘yes, sir’ to everything they say”, he stormed.
Infantino insisted on Thursday that Iran will play World Cup matches in the United States, despite tensions between the two countries since the United States and Israel started a war against Iran in February. FIFA previously rejected Tehran’s request to play in Mexico.
“We need to hold a meeting with FIFA officials to ensure that if we are to participate in the World Cup, there are no parallel issues and controversies for our team,” said Taj.
