Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Tuesday that he “danced a happy dance” when Iran was knocked out of the FIFA World Cup last week.
“I’m just glad they’re done, and they’re not coming back,” said Mullin, whose agency is overseeing security at the U.S. games. “I was so happy when we were able to pull their visas and said they could leave U.S. soil, and I might have sung a song or two, or maybe danced a happy dance.”
The World Cup is no stranger to geopolitics, but Mullin’s unusually blunt comments underscore just how politically fraught this tournament cycle has become.
Iran’s participation in the tournament had been in doubt since the U.S. and Israel began military strikes against Iran, FIFA President Gianni Infantino shuttled between Washington and Tehran trying to ensure the U.S. would grant visas to citizens of a country it is at war with and avoid a boycott that some feared would delegitimize the world’s largest sporting event. Ultimately Iran’s training camp was moved from Tucson, Arizona to Mexico.
Mullin’s remarks came after he addressed employees from across the federal government at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Special Events Coordination Center, which coordinated security planning for the 48-team tournament.
Speaking with reporters afterward, Mullin vigorously defended the administration’s decision to impose unprecedented travel restrictions on the Iranian national team, such as entering only a day or two before the match and leaving immediately after. He argued U.S. officials had gone out of their way to accommodate the squad while protecting national security.
Mullin alleged Iranian officials attempted to bring into the U.S. numerous individuals with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including personnel who had never previously traveled with the national team. He also said two individuals presented as media members had connections to IRGC intelligence and claimed another applicant was the subject of an international warrant.The Iranian embassy in Mexico did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“They were playing games the whole time,” Mullin said. “I’ve talked about them enough. They’re gone, they’re out of the tournament, we don’t deal with them anymore.”
He also dismissed criticisms from Iranian officials who had complained publicly that the restrictions on their national team were unfair and disrupted the team’s preparation.
“That wasn’t accurate. They – of course, you can’t trust anything Iran is saying,” he said.
According to Mullin, the administration had initially planned to admit the team five days before its opening match, but Iran sought to arrive even earlier. Instead, FIFA worked with U.S. and Mexican officials to establish a base camp in Tijuana, roughly a 45-minute flight from Los Angeles, where Iran played its opening matches in the U.S.
“We worked with Mexico, talked with our counterparts there, and we talked with [Mexican] President [Claudia] Sheinbaum and it was agreed to allow them to come to Tijuana,” Mullin said. “They could stay there rather than come into the United States earlier.”
Mullin argued the Trump administration provided accommodations unavailable to any other team: Customs and Border Protection officers processed the team’s biometrics in Tijuana before each flight so players could bypass normal inspections upon landing in the United States, and federal air marshals accompanied the delegation to ensure safe travel.
“We didn’t do that for any other team,” he said.
Mullin also dismissed complaints that the team had to leave immediately after matches, comparing the arrangement to NFL teams routinely flying home after games.
“The game was over. Let them get back to the hotel, their base camp, where they’re at,” he said, noting that the U.S. men’s national team similarly flew back to its Southern California base after a match in Seattle.
Behind the scenes, Mullin said Iran presented by far the greatest security challenge of any delegation participating in the tournament.
“There wasn’t a single team — not a single team — we had to spend more time with, by far, dealing with what Iran was trying to do,” he said.