Was Iran soccer player Mohammed Mohebi deported from the U.S. following the June 15, 2026, FIFA World Cup game against New Zealand? No, that's not true: When contacted by Lead Stories, the Department of Homeland Security denied the online speculation. Lead Stories found no credible media reports that Mohebi had been deported.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published on X by @TheBallZoneX on June 16, 2026. It read:
🚨 BREAKING: Iran player Mohammed Mohebi has been deported back to Iran after his gun celebration vs New Zealand,
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing on X:
(Image source: post by @TheBallZoneX on X.)
During the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Iran played against New Zealand on June 15 (archived here). Each team scored two goals.
The game took place in Los Angeles, and some Iranian American fans whose families moved to the U.S. in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution protested against the Iranian government by showing flags associated with the previous regime (archived here).
During the match, Mohebi, who scored Iran's second goal, was photographed making a gun with his fingers. The same moment appeared in a video recording published by Fox Sports at the 00:11 mark.
Some read the gesture as aimed at Iranian fans, but Mohebi was later quoted as saying he made the gesture to celebrate the goal-scoring shot.
On June 17, 2026, a DHS spokesperson told Lead Stories via email:
This is a hoax. No player from the Iranian soccer team has been deported.
The account that boosted the rumor on X was not affiliated with a credible media organization. Its self-description (archived here) read:
Home of football jokes - Satire.
A search on Google News for the keywords seen here produced a single match. It was an article (archived here) that, in part, read:
...it should be noted that as of now, there is no official confirmation regarding Mohebi's deportation.
That piece cited a post (archived here) from X that appeared to be the earliest mention of the claim. It was published by the FUTA account (archived here) that predominantly posts about sports. However, its handle -- @futaspor -- was missing the last letter "t" needed to complete the word "sport".
Dailysports.net was the website that published the article based on the post. It was registered in 2003 and presented itself (archived here) as a media organization while also promoting betting sites (archived here).
