Article
Canada blocks Iranian football officials from FIFA Congress over extremist ties
OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says it's her 'understanding' that Iranian soccer officials saw their permission to enter Canada revoked ahead of the FIFA Congress in Vancouver.
Iranian state media says Iranian Football Federation president Mehdi Taj and two other Iranian officials were denied entry.
Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner says she's troubled that Taj made it to Canada, given his history as a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Rempel Garner says the fact that a former member of a listed terrorist entity managed to get to Canada raises big questions about the government's screening process.
When asked about Taj at a Toronto press conference today, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said he can't speak about specific cases due to privacy legislation but people with ties to terrorist organizations are not welcome in Canada.
The online news outlet Iran International first reported that Taj had been granted a visa on Monday and that he had been removed from Canada late Tuesday evening.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2026.
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
