A delegation from the Iranian football federation, led by Mehdi Taj, has turned back at Toronto's main airport and will miss a pre-World Cup FIFA gathering in Vancouver. The officials left Canada before the start of the FIFA Congress, citing what they described as the inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour of immigration officials.
The Iranian federation's president is a former member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which is a designated terror group in Canada. It remains unclear whether the football officials from Iran were issued Canadian visas to attend the AFC and FIFA congresses.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand stated Wednesday that it was her understanding that the Iranian soccer officials were denied entry into the country ahead of the meeting in Vancouver.