Iran ordered out of U.S. to Mexico right after World Cup opener

Iran's national soccer team was told to clear out of the United States within hours of its World Cup opener, flying back to its training base in Tijuana, Mexico instead of staying overnight in Los Angeles. The move turns a sports story into a geopolitical one, with the U.S.-Iran war still hanging over the tournament.

What happened

The coach of Iran's World Cup team said it was ordered to leave the U.S. and return to its training base in Mexico only a few hours after opening its politically charged tournament by playing to a 2-2 draw with New Zealand on Monday night.

The team had expected to spend the night in California to maximize the normal recovery process after its opening game, only to be told after the match that everyone must immediately get on a plane for the 140-mile trip back to Tijuana.

Coach Amir Ghalenoei said through an interpreter that they didn't even give the team time to recover, and added that he thinks his team is perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup.

The U.S. response

The U.S. is pushing back on complaints from Iran's national team that it was forced to leave the country immediately after its first World Cup match instead of having a day to recover in a hotel, saying that was the plan for the team all along. “We were clear this was the process,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

When asked about why some support staff and team officials had been denied entry, Giuliani wouldn't go into details but referred to previous comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio about denying entry to people with direct ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “Secretary Rubio said very clearly: Anybody with direct ties to the IRGC is not coming into the United States of America, and they're not going to let the World Cup be the reason why they can come in,” Giuliani said.

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Geopolitical backdrop

The World Cup is taking place against the backdrop of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which may be coming to a close if a tentative agreement to end hostilities holds. That is the live wire running underneath every Iran-related headline at this tournament.

Iran ultimately decided to compete even after FIFA rejected its request to move its three group-stage matches out of the U.S. Travel friction is now part of the schedule: captain Mehdi Taremi said the team endured five hours of travel and security checks during what's normally a very short trip from Tijuana to the Los Angeles area on Sunday.

What's next on the pitch

The Iranians are staying in Tijuana, which is a short flight from southern California — where the team played on Monday and will compete in its second game against Belgium on Sunday.

After they face Belgium, the 10th-ranked team, the Iranians will have four days off before competing against Egypt, the 29th-ranked team. That match, the final of group play for both teams, will take place on June 26 in Seattle.

Options market and stocks to watch

The story is geopolitical, but it touches sectors that traders are already watching around the U.S.-Iran conflict and the World Cup itself.

Watch for moves in XOM and CVX on any shift in the U.S.-Iran ceasefire narrative, since crude has been trading off every headline tied to the war.

Watch FOX and PARA for sentiment around World Cup broadcast and ad inventory as the tournament group stage plays out across U.S. host cities.

Watch DKS for any read-through on World Cup merchandise demand into the knockout rounds. For more headlines moving names like these, see other news.

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