The head of the White House Task Force for the World Cup on Tuesday, June 9, defended the decision to deny visas to a Somali referee and several support staff members of the Iranian team.

Andrew Giuliani, the task force's executive director, spoke at an Atlantic Council event in Washington. "To this point we've had 35 teams that have come into the United States," he said. "No players, no coaches have been denied. There have been some officials that have been denied, and for good reason. We're striking that balance between making sure that any bad actors that…try to come into the country under the guise of the World Cup will not get access to the United States," he added.

Giuliani, the son of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, was asked specifically about the decision to bar Somali referee Omar Artan from entering the country. Artan, who was named men's referee of the year by the Confederation of African Football in 2025, would have been the first Somali to officiate at a World Cup.

"While I can't go into the details, what I can tell you, high level, is it was for a very good reason," Giuliani said of Artan, who was turned back at Miami airport. Somalia is one of several countries on a travel ban list introduced by President Donald Trump's administration as part of a broader immigration crackdown.

Iran, who will play all three of their group games on American soil, were forced to switch their training base to Mexico due to the ongoing military conflict with the United States. The Iranian football federation said on Tuesday that its ticket allocation for supporters had been revoked and that some team support staff had been denied visas.

Giuliani said "all the Iranian coaching staff is coming in" but there are "some Iranian officials that are not coming in, again for very good reason." He said he "can't get into the particulars" but “there are some people that claim that they are coaches that may not be coaches.”

Giuliani said Trump wants to ensure there is a "level playing field" for all teams taking part in the World Cup “while also making sure that people that are directly working, let's say, with the IRGC have no ability to access the United States of America.”

The White House envoy also said there are currently "no credible threats" to the tournament, but the intelligence community is "tripled down" and will continue to monitor the situation “between now and whenever the final goal is scored on July 19.”