ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran on Saturday accused Washington of “the worst possible form of political bias” after the US denied visa access to several members of the Iranian national football team's accompanying delegation ahead of the FIFA World Cup, criticizing US Envoy Tom Barrack for seeking to "whitewash" the matter.

The US has denied visas to several Iranian national football team members and staff ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday. 

The team manager, the Football Federation secretary-general, the national team executive director, the national team media director, one of the team’s analysts, and representatives of the foreign ministry, security services, and the federation’s international committee were among those denied visa access, Tasnim added.

These individuals are scheduled to travel to Mexico with the national team, the report added, stressing that “efforts to obtain visas will continue.”

Following the developments, US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack on Friday praised the US Embassy in Ankara for processing “visas for Iran’s national football team on their road to the FIFA World Cup in the United States,” writing on X.

The Iranian embassy in Turkey soon reacted to Barrack’s comments, saying that “you cannot whitewash conduct that violates FIFA regulations and breaches the United States’ host obligations merely by praising yourselves,” it said, replying to the US diplomats' statement. 

The embassy further described the move as representing “the worst possible form of politically biased interference in sport,” adding that “FIFA must hold the US accountable.” 

“You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level,” it said.

Earlier in May, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that Tehran is doing everything possible "to ensure that nothing happens to the Iranian national football team on American soil" ahead of the World Cup.

The host government is obliged to issue visas to team members "regardless of political issues," Baghei said. 

The World Cup, set to begin on June 11 and will take place across the US, Mexico, and Canada, with Washington's restrictive immigration measures and the still-unresolved conflict with Iran having led to fears of visa rejections.