Iran's football federation president has said that world football's governing body has approved a request to move the country's 2026 World Cup training base from the United States to Mexico. The team had originally been assigned a base in Tucson, Arizona, but concerns linked to the ongoing war in the Middle East created uncertainty around the arrangement.

According to Mehdi Taj, Iran will now be based in Tijuana, a Mexican city near the border with the United States and close to the Pacific coast. He said the decision followed meetings and discussions with tournament officials and senior figures from world football's governing body.

Taj added that Tijuana is geographically closer to Iran's scheduled matches, including two games in Los Angeles and one in Seattle. He noted that travel time to Los Angeles would be significantly shorter from Tijuana than from Arizona. Iran are currently preparing for the tournament in Antalya, Turkey.