SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The Iranian soccer team is in Los Angeles for its World Cup debut, practicing and staying in Tijuana due to U.S. restrictions stemming from the war. Their visas only allow them to be on U.S. soil for less than 48 hours, meaning the team must return to Tijuana after each game. Several Iranian officials were denied U.S. visas altogether.
On Sunday, the team left Tijuana for a short flight to Los Angeles, sent off by a crowd of Iranians and Mexicans waving flags and holding signs that read "Iran will never walk alone, Mexico stands with you."
Their departure came on the same day President Trump announced a tentative deal to end the war with Iran, officially set to be signed Friday.
Bahram Maher, with the Coalition for Democracy and Human Rights in Iran, said he hopes the deal will put an end to the war, but that the real, permanent solution is having a democratic government in the country.
"Nobody really knows what's going to happen between now and Friday just because things change every day," Maher said.
On the soccer team, Maher said his concerns are directed at the Iranian government, not necessarily the players themselves.
"We don't have anything against the team itself but against the regime that is putting all these restrictions for the players," Maher said.
Ahead of Monday night's game, dozens of San Diegans packed a bus headed for SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, where Iran will play its first game. Some of those riders planned to protest both the Iranian regime and the soccer team, saying they cannot support the team at this World Cup.
"We're not going to cheer for anything that is associated with the regime, including this team. This team will be boycotted," one protester said.
Another protester described their intentions as peaceful.
"All we want to do is just a peaceful protest and be the voice of real Iranian people, not the Islamic regime football team," the protester said.
Iranians in San Diego expressed a mix of hope and skepticism about the deal to end the war. Some hope the soccer team does well, even though they don't support the Iranian government, while others say the team shouldn't be playing at all.
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