US grants visas to Iran World Cup footballers

**Will Chalk** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Will Chalk, and in the early hours of Saturday the 6th of June, these are our main stories. With time running out until the start of the World Cup, Washington has confirmed the Iranian team will be given visas. But what will that mean in practice? The British Prime Minister's Office rejects the intervention by the US Vice President over the murder last year of a white man by a British-born Sikh man. And why air leaks on the International Space Station forced a temporary evacuation of its crew to a spacecraft.
Also in this podcast, Vladimir Putin dismisses President Zelensky's call for a face-to-face meeting, saying there's no point in talks until a peace agreement is reached. And Anthony Head, a star of Ted Lasso and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died age 72

**SPEAKER_2** (0:53)
You're in a magic shop, and you can't think what Tara would like. I bet you thought both profoundly stupid.

**Will Chalk** (1:00)
We'll look back on his life.
So in less than a week, the men's Football World Cup will kick off, with the tournament taking place in stadiums across Mexico, the US and Canada. But in the lead-up, there's been a lot of uncertainty over whether the Iranian team would even be able to enter America to play their three matches, given the ongoing conflict between Iran and the US. The squad has, until now, been training in Turkey, while officials lobbied the US to allow them visas. This was the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, Abou Fazl Pasandide, on Thursday.

**Abou Fazl Pasandide** (1:42)
Our action in coming to the US for football shows the world that Iran seeks peace and is not vindictive. We will try until the last moment to make it to the matches, but if they do not give visas, then we are not to blame.
The whole philosophy of sport has been to bring nations closer together and unfortunately that is not the case now.

**Will Chalk** (2:03)
Now the US State Department has announced that the players have been granted visas to enter the country. The US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, confirmed the news separately, congratulating the embassy in Ankara for processing the visas, saying sport transcends borders.
The Iranian news agency Fars, however, has reported that some members of the Iran team's technical and administrative staff are yet to receive their visas. But the news does mean that this is the first World Cup since its inception in 1930, in which a host nation is set to receive a country it's at war with. Our North America correspondent, Tom Simons, is in Washington.

**Tom Simons** (2:42)
The problem was that the Iranian team had decided to be hosted in Mexico. It was originally going to be based in Tucson, Arizona. But because of the difficulties of the situation, the team said, no, we're happy to go to Mexico.
But they have several games in the US as part of the group stages. They're in a group with New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt. And that means matches in LA on the 15th of June and on the 21st of June and in Seattle on the 26th of June. So they did need to get these visas. Otherwise they wouldn't have been able to take part.
Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, has said anyone linked to the Islamic Republic and Guard was not welcome. And that seemed to be a barrier to any potential visas being issued. But they have now been issued and an official at the White House has said that they will not allow the Iranian team to abuse these issuing of these visas to sneak, quotes, terrorists into the United States under pretenses. So that does seem to have been resolved. But Iran has also asked for respect for its flag, its anthem, some enhanced security, and also, interestingly, that journalists don't ask questions beyond football. That's not something that's, I think, in the gift of the US government.

**Will Chalk** (3:58)
Tom Simons there.
Move on to a story that has dominated politics here in the UK this week. And it's the case of the British student Henry Novak. He was stabbed last year in England. And as he lay dying in the street, the police arrested him. His killer, a Sikh man named Vikram Digwa, had lied to the police, claiming that Henry Novak had racially abused him. Vikram Digwa has since been given a life sentence. But as well as here in the UK, the case has also been drawing strong reactions from the US. The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already accused Elon Musk of trying to whip up division by amplifying claims on his platform X that the case shows police racism towards white people.