Iran World Cup Team Leaves Locker Room Message For LA

LOS ANGELES — Iran’s World Cup team left behind a message for Los Angeles after its 0-0 draw with Belgium on Sunday in the city, The New York Times reported.

“We came to Los Angeles with pride, competed with honor, and leave with dignity,” said the message, handwritten on a Post-it notepad and left in the team’s locker room, as shown in a photo published by the Times. “Thank you, Los Angeles, for your hospitality.”

The message called for “peace, respect, and friendship” to “prevail among all nations,” noting that, “The spirit of Iran remains alive and steadfast.”

Iran’s team is the first to represent a country engaged in conflict with a tournament host in World Cup history, according to the Times, which noted that the locker room message referenced “168” and “Minab” — the number of victims and location of a missile that struck a school at the war’s start.

At the conclusion of Sunday's match, at least one attendee wearing a pre-revolutionary flag shirt was detained for trying to run onto the pitch. And afterward, though demonstrations were quieter than Monday's, an Associated Press reporter observed a fan who got into a scuffle with protesters being loaded into an ambulance.

Before the match had even kicked off, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Sunday that the Iranians had “tried to get somebody in yesterday” who had direct ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. In a statement, the soccer federation vociferously pushed back.

“The claim that an official representative of the Iranian Football Federation attempted to board a flight to enter the United States yesterday and was prevented from doing so is an outright and undeniable lie,” the statement said.

Mullin told Fox News that most teams travel with around 120 people, but the U.S. had accepted 53 in Iran's case. He said the rest of the people Iran had tried to secure visas for had “direct ties to the IRGC and aren’t their normal traveling group.” The federation said Mullin's claims were “completely unsupported by any evidence or documentation, but also represent a clear attempt to cover up discriminatory behavior and unreasonable restrictions.”

That statement echoed Iran's complaints throughout the tournament that politics have infringed on soccer, even as U.S. Vice President JD Vance said there was an opportunity to “turn over a new leaf” with talks beginning in Switzerland on the interim deal to end the war. Iran’s players and coach have complained about shuttling to and from Mexico instead of Tucson, Arizona, and the barring of some officials and staff, and the federation has said it would pursue a complaint against FIFA.

Iranian national team player Alireza Jahanbakhsh said after the match that he doesn’t want to keep focusing on the challenging situation, and that players are now focused on recovery and preparing to travel to Seattle for the next game, against Egypt.

Outside the stadium, a few hundred people demonstrated against Iran's government. Aside from some verbal altercations and the scuffle after the match, the protests were smaller than at Iran's first game and featured more security from the outset.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.