As the Iranian national soccer team begins the 2026 World Cup amid high-level diplomatic negotiations to end the war between the U.S. and Iran, American security officials — and American Jewish communities already operating under elevated threat conditions — are facing challenges beyond soccer,

The first security and political consideration concerns the Iranian delegation itself: The United States has occasionally restricted entry for sports officials and delegations from adversarial countries — from Soviet Olympic officials during the Cold War to Cuban baseball and Iranian karate representatives in recent years. 

The Trump administration, facing pressure from FIFA, did eventually issue visas several weeks ago — after months of uncertainty — to the 26 members of Iran’s national team, though more than a dozen staff members and officials associated with the team were not granted visas due to security concerns. The team is set to play on Monday and next week in Los Angeles, against New Zealand and Belgium, respectively, and against Egypt in Seattle on June 26. 

“The visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued,” the State Department told ESPN. “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.” 

One of the people rejected is reportedly Mehdi Taj, head of the Iranian soccer federation, who was previously a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The team is also not allowed to stay on U.S. soil overnight; it relocated its training camp from Tucson, Ariz., to Tijuana, Mexico, and will return to Mexico after the final whistle of each of its matches.

The host cities are already on alert: Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, a Democrat, said she was briefed on a “credible threat” to the city during the World Cup, which so alarmed her that she decided to turn on CCTV cameras around the soccer stadium for the duration of the games, counter to her longstanding opposition to the surveillance system. 

Amid an already heightened threat environment for Jewish communities in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks and amid the Iran war, thousands of fans from around the world flocking to the U.S. to cheer on their favorite teams presents an additional security challenge. 

Secure Community Network, a Jewish communal security organization, told Jewish Insider that “there are no known specific threats to the Jewish community directly related to the World Cup,” though the group “has been proactively engaged with the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and other World Cup host cities well in advance of the tournament.” 

SCN cited the 2006 shooting attack on the Seattle Jewish Federation that killed one and wounded five others, perpetrated by a Pakistani national who said he was “angry at Israel,” as “continu[ing] to inform the local community’s commitment to security and preparedness.” The Seattle and Los Angeles Jewish federations declined to comment.

Oren Segal, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence, called Iran’s participation in the World Cup “a moment for vigilance, not alarm.” He predicted that the event “will likely attract some protest activity from groups seeking to leverage the global attention surrounding the tournament to advance their causes,” and said “the appropriate response is proactive coordination with local law enforcement and ensuring that community members are informed, prepared, and supported.”