Iranian president to attend World Cup

Germany’s foreign ministry today said it had granted a visa for an Iranian vice president, Mohammed Aliabadi, to attend the soccer World Cup, which starts on Friday.

Aliabadi, 50, is one of seven vice presidents and is the head of the state’s physical education organisation.

He has said that he is attending the World Cup independently to watch Iran play and is not representing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.