Iran’s national football team took to the training pitch in front of journalists on Thursday at their makeshift base camp in Mexico, giving the world its first glimpse of a squad whose World Cup participation has been heavily clouded by the ongoing war with the United States.

Having been forced to move their entire training camp to Tijuana from their originally planned base in Arizona, “Team Melli” has maintained strict radio silence since arriving for the tournament last Sunday.

During Thursday’s media session, journalists were granted just fifteen minutes to observe a small, depleted group of players running through basic warm-up exercises.

Of the 26-man squad selected for the tournament, only 12 players were actually present on the pitch.

Most notably, star striker Mehdi Taremi was among the heavy hitters who failed to show up for the session.

Dressed in green jerseys, the dozen available players did some light jogging and stretching exercises on foam mats at the training grounds of local club Xolos de Tijuana.

The logistics of Iran’s tournament have turned into a diplomatic nightmare. Iran is scheduled to play its opening match on Monday against New Zealand at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

A team official confirmed that the squad plans to cross into the United States on Sunday night to sleep ahead of the fixture.

However, this contradicts a stark warning issued last week by Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, who told reporters that US immigration authorities would only allow the Iranian squad into the country on the actual day of their games, with a strict mandate to deport them immediately afterward.

Soccer in the shadow of war

Iran’s highly controversial participation in the tournament, jointly hosted by the US, Mexico, and Canada, comes just three months after the US and Israel launched devastating coordinated military attacks on the nation of 93 million people.

The resulting conflict has drawn in vast swathes of the Middle East and heavily shaken the global economy.

Amidst Thursday’s tense practice session coincided with a sudden announcement from US President Donald Trump, who claimed to have brokered a “great settlement” to end the war with Iran.

Trump stated he expects a formal peace deal to be signed in Europe as early as this weekend—a development that could entirely reshape the security protocols and atmosphere surrounding Monday’s match in Los Angeles.