TEHRAN, Iran — Iran claimed Monday that the United States had “detained” its visiting volleyball team at a US airport for several hours.
The Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry’s director for North America told Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner, whose country represents US interests in Iran, that the team was detained for about four hours at an airport in Chicago.
“If America cannot host all the teams fairly and neutrally, it better stop hosting sport events,” the official told the Swiss envoy.
Iran’s volleyball team is in the US for the 2019 Nations League final six.
The team is set to play against Poland on Thursday and Brazil on Friday, and two out of six teams will face off next Monday in the final.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the
terms
Iran and the United States cut diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Tensions between the two countries have escalated since Washington withdrew from a 2015 landmark nuclear deal last year and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.
State news agency IRNA said Iran’s volleyball team had “visited the US in previous years for various friendly or official games and never had a problem before.”
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
