Amid Tensions, Iran Arrives in Mexico Ahead of the World Cup

Iran's national football team landed in Mexico today, Sunday, ahead of its participation in the FIFA World Cup.

Members of the Iranian delegation to the tournament wore the number 168 on their suits. In Iran, it was explained that this referred to the 168 children killed in an attack that hit an elementary school in the city of Minab at the start of the latest round of fighting with Israel and the United States.

There was also footage published in Iran showing the team arriving at its hotel in Tijuana, where several local supporters of the Iranian regime were waiting outside to express their solidarity with the regime.

Iran's team will play all of its group-stage matches in the United States, and was also scheduled to stay there. But when the war broke out, the Iranian Football Federation tried to work to move the location of the matches and the team's base during the tournament. After FIFA did not approve changing the match locations, it relented and agreed to allow the Iranian delegation to move the team camp to Tijuana instead of the original plan to hold it in Arizona.

Mehdi Taj, president of the Iranian federation, said the request was approved to avoid problems in the process of obtaining entry visas to the United States, problems that would be solved if the players entered through Mexico rather than from Iran.

More on the World Cup: 14 members of the Iranian delegation did not receive U.S. visas. Iranian national team players displayed pictures of children killed in the war.