US officials said some applicants in Iran's delegation were refused for requesting visas "under false pretences", and Tehran complained that five federation staffers were blocked under that language 1. The phrasing is the US government's characterisation of the applications, not a finding against any named individual.
The squad's visas were approved; the individual status of striker Mehdi Taremi is not confirmed in public sourcing. His 2010-2012 service with the IRGC, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had been identified as the named bar under US immigration law . The approval language left his case unstated, and nothing in the 5 June confirmation closes it. FFIRI, Iran's football federation, has separately denied reports that three of its players were rejected, insisting the playing group is intact apart from the blocked support staff.
Two accounts now sit on top of the same process: Tehran's five-staffer count and FFIRI's denial of any player rejection. Neither resolves Taremi, and neither narrows the gap that defines the whole episode. Squad-level clearance and staff-level refusal came out of one decision, which is why a delegation can be cleared to play and still arrive missing the people it submitted alongside the players.
