Iran Football Team Trains in Mexico Ahead of World Cup

Iran's national football team held its first open training session in Mexico on Thursday, June 11, 2026, as the squad prepared for the World Cup amidst ongoing conflict with the United States. This training session, attended by journalists, marked the team's initial glimpse on the pitch after shifting their training camp to Tijuana from an initially planned location in Arizona.

During the brief session, which lasted fifteen minutes, a small group of players conducted warm-up exercises. Only a dozen of the 26 players from "Team Melli" featured, with star striker Mehdi Taremi absent. The players sported green jerseys while they engaged in light jogging before moving on to stretching and core-strengthening exercises on foam mats at the local Xolos club's training pitch.

Iran is set to play its first match on Monday against New Zealand in Los Angeles. A team official confirmed that the squad is scheduled to enter the United States on Sunday to spend the night before the match. Last week, Iran's ambassador to Mexico remarked that the team would only be permitted to enter the US on game days and must leave immediately post-match.

Iran's participation in the World Cup is particularly notable as it takes place in the context of heightened tensions, following attacks launched by the US and Israel on Iran just three months prior, which prompted widespread unrest in the Middle East and impacted the global economy.

On the same day as the training session, US President Donald Trump announced a potential "great settlement" aimed at resolving the ongoing war with Iran, expressing optimism about signing an agreement in Europe as soon as that weekend.