Iran arrive in Los Angeles as US-Iran peace deal is announced

LOS ANGELES: Iran’s football team arrived in the United States on Sunday ahead of its World Cup opener against New Zealand, landing in Los Angeles on the same day that the United States and Iran announced a peace deal to end their war.

The squad flew in from Tijuana, Mexico, where it had been staying after relocating its World Cup base camp from Arizona late last month. The move came after the US and Israel began joint strikes on Iran in late February. Iran are due to face New Zealand in their Group G match at Los Angeles Stadium on Monday.

Speaking through a translator at a press conference at the stadium, head coach Amir Ghalenoei said he was proud to represent his country.

"I am very happy to be representing the great, proud and strong nation of Iran"

He added:

I hope that football will bring about joy and enjoyment, and bring closer the cultures and countries.

Iran will continue to travel from Mexico into the United States for each of its three group-stage matches. Ghalenoei said those arrangements, along with visa denials for some members of the Iranian football federation, had adversely affected the team.

The peace deal announced on Sunday is due to be formally signed in Switzerland on Friday, according to social media posts by US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The team’s opening match will therefore take place amid the backdrop of the recent conflict and the newly announced agreement between the two countries.

Protests outside the stadium

As the team travelled to Los Angeles, demonstrators gathered near Los Angeles Stadium calling for democracy in Iran and denouncing the Iranian government. Placards at the rally read No Shah - No Mullah in Iran - Regime Change by Iranians, while posters of athletes whom protesters said had died after being arrested by Iranian authorities were displayed on a street corner in Inglewood.

The January crackdown on protests in Iran had killed thousands, and possibly tens of thousands, according to rights groups and activists. Mojgan Ramezani, a 56-year-old Iranian American at the protest, said:

"They're holding hostage their own people"

Another protester, Hassan Haddadi, 70, said he was disappointed by what he saw as a limited international response.

"We’re hoping to bring awareness to the western world, to somehow do something beyond just condemning, to bring an end to this regime"

Asked about the political backdrop, Ghalenoei said his players and coaching staff were not involved in politics.

We are here to play football and represent the respectful people of Iran, be it the Iranians inside Iran or the Iranian diaspora.

Warm sendoff in Tijuana

Before departing Mexico, the Iranian team received an enthusiastic farewell outside their hotel in Tijuana. Supporters packed the sidewalk and chanted Team Melli as players came out and boarded the team bus. Several players waved and smiled, while some members of the delegation recorded the scene on their phones.

One supporter held a sign reading Iran, you will never walk alone. Mexico stands with you. At another point, the crowd sang in Spanish, Iran, brother, you are Mexican now. A young boy sitting on someone’s shoulders held open the official Panini Fifa World Cup 2026 sticker album to the Iran team page.

Iranian football federation president Mehdi Taj stood outside the hotel as the squad left, and many supporters followed the bus as it drove away. Tijuana’s Iranian community numbers around 20 people, far smaller than Los Angeles, which is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran. Tens of thousands of Iranian Americans live in the city, where a diaspora commonly referred to as Tehrangeles has become established.

This is the first World Cup since the tournament began in 1930 in which a host nation has welcomed a country it is at war with.