US grants visas to Iran World Cup footballers
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Washington has confirmed that Iran's World Cup players have been issued visas to enter the United States, ten days before their first match in Los Angeles. The team will be based in Mexico during the tournament, but all three of their group stage matches will be held in the US. Iranian media are reporting that some staff travelling with the national team are yet to be given visas.
Also: Downing Street hits out at ''people seeking to stir division'' after JD Vance blamed the murder of a British student on the "mass invasion of migrants". The crew of the International Space Station get the all clear after being put on standby to evacuate because of leaks. President Putin firmly rejects Volodymyr Zelensky's invitation to have face-to-face talks about ending their war. Why some politicians in France are unhappy about a banquet craze taking over towns and villages. And the actor Anthony Head who starred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ted Lasso has died at the age of 72.
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Photo: Iran's Amir Razzaghinia, Ali Nemati and Hossein Kanani line up during the national anthems before their International Friendly against Gambia in May 2026 Credit: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:10.6 | I'm Will Chalk, and in the early hours of Saturday the 6th of June, these are our main stories. |
| 0:16.3 | With time running out until the start of the World Cup, Washington has confirmed the Iranian team |
| 0:20.9 | will be given visas. But what will that mean in practice? The British Prime Minister's |
| 0:26.5 | office rejects the intervention by the US Vice President over the murder last year of a white |
| 0:31.7 | man by a British-born Sikh man. And why air leaks on the International Space Station |
| 0:37.3 | forced a temporary evacuation |
| 0:38.8 | of its crew to a spacecraft. Also in this podcast, Vladimir Putin dismisses President Zelensky's |
| 0:47.5 | call for a face-to-face meeting, saying there's no point in talks until a peace agreement is |
| 0:52.2 | reached. An Anthony Head, star of Ted Lassau and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died age 72. |
| 0:59.0 | You're in a magic shop and you can't think what Tara would like. |
| 1:04.2 | I believe you're both profoundly stupid. |
| 1:06.8 | We'll look back on his life. |
| 1:12.4 | So in less than a week, the men's Football World Cup will kick off, |
| 1:16.5 | with the tournament taking place in stadiums across Mexico, the US and Canada. |
| 1:22.1 | But in the lead-up, there's been a lot of uncertainty |
| 1:24.5 | over whether the Iranian team would even be able to enter America |
| 1:28.0 | to play their three matches, given the ongoing conflict between Iran and the US. |
| 1:33.6 | The squad has, until now, been training in Turkey while officials lobbied the US to allow |
| 1:38.8 | them visas. This was the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, Al-fazal Pasandide, on Thursday. |
| 1:48.1 | Our action in coming to the U.S. for football shows the world that Iran seeks peace and is not vindictive. |
... |
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