A Spanish man who was documenting his ambitious journey by foot from Madrid to Doha for the 2022 FIFA World Cup has not been heard from since crossing into Iran three weeks ago, his family said Monday, stirring fears about his fate in a country convulsed by mass unrest.
The experienced trekker, former paratrooper and fervent soccer fan, 41-year-old Santiago Sanchez, was last seen in Iraq after hiking through 15 countries and extensively sharing his journey on a popular Instagram account over the last nine months. But his exuberant posts stopped suddenly on Oct. 1, the day he entered Iran from the country's volatile northwestern border.
Tehran has violently cracked down and blamed foreign enemies and Kurdish groups in Iraq for fomenting the unrest, without offering evidence. The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said authorities had arrested nine foreigners, mostly Europeans, over their alleged links to the protests last month.
The day before he disappeared, Sanchez had breakfast with a guide in Sulaymaniyah. The guide, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said he tried to warn Sanchez about the dangerous political situation in Iran as they parted ways. After Sanchez crossed the border on Oct. 1, his messages became sparse and cryptic, the guide said. Sanchez told him that things were "very different" in Iran from Sulaymaniyah, the Iraqi metropolis filled with parks and cafes.Sanchez's parents said he had warned them he'd temporarily lose internet access after reaching Iran.