Iran will contest their final World Cup preparation match behind closed doors in Turkey on Thursday before traveling to their tournament base in Mexico on Saturday, the Iranian football federation (FFIRI) announced on Wednesday.

Although among the earliest qualifiers, Iran's World Cup involvement faced uncertainty after US and Israel conducted air strikes on the Islamic Republic in late February.

The squad completed three friendlies across two training camps in Antalya since the conflict began, suffering a loss to Nigeria while securing wins over Costa Rica and Gambia. They are scheduled to meet Mali in the Turkish coastal resort on Thursday.

"Given the significance of the Iranian national football team's friendly against Mali, and to align with the tactical plans of Iran's head coach, tomorrow's match versus Mali will occur behind closed doors without media presence," the FFIRI stated.

The FFIRI convinced FIFA to shift the team's base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico, allowing travel across the border for their opening group fixtures against New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles.

Iranian regime-linked officials barred from US entry for the matches

Their concluding Group G encounter with Egypt takes place in Seattle.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Tuesday that Washington had "no problem" with the Iranian team entering the country but would block officials or staff tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from joining them.

"What we are not going to allow is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that nature, so we were going to watch that very closely," Rubio remarked during a House of Representatives committee hearing.

Both the US and Canada, co-hosting the World Cup with Mexico, designate the IRGC as a "terrorist entity."

FFIRI President Mehdi Taj was denied entry to Canada for the FIFA Congress in late April due to his connections with the elite military force.

Iran is set to begin their campaign against New Zealand on June 15.