"I was so happy when we were able to pull their visas and said they could leave US soil, and I might have sung a song or two, or maybe danced a happy dance." That's the US Homeland Security Secretary — not a pundit, not a troll account — describing Iran's World Cup elimination.
Markwayne Mullin made the remarks at an interagency meeting on Monday, as first reported by Sports Business Journal. Iran had already been knocked out after three draws against New Zealand, Belgium, and Egypt in the group stage. But Mullin wasn't done. He added there "wasn't a single team that we dealt with more than them" — a line that reads less like a security briefing and more like a grudge settling.
A tournament played under protest
Iran's exit didn't happen in a vacuum. The team spent the entire tournament operating under conditions no other side faced. Unlike every other nation at this World Cup — co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico — Iranian players were barred from staying on American soil. They trained and traveled from Tijuana, Mexico, commuting across the border for games in Los Angeles and Seattle.
The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran's president, Mehdi Taj, was denied a visa outright. After Tehran escalated its complaints to FIFA ahead of the Egypt match in Seattle, the DHS eased some restrictions — an admission, whether intended or not, that the original measures were excessive.
Captain Mehdi Taremi put it plainly after that final game: "We have to fight against everything here."
Mullin's defence was that CBP agents screened Iranian players in Mexico rather than at the US border, framing it as a protective measure against harassment. Iran's federation wasn't buying it. Their response was pointed: Mullin's "dance" quip "reveals more about his own character than it does about our team," and demonstrates "contempt and narrow-mindedness."
What this means beyond the politics
Strip the geopolitics away and you're still left with a footballing story that deserves scrutiny. Iran drew all three group games — not a collapse, but not enough either. Whether the logistical handicap cost them points in tight matches is impossible to prove and easy to dismiss. What's harder to dismiss is that no serious sporting tournament should have one nation's players commuting from another country while everyone else sleeps in their team hotel.
The FFIRI's statement landed with the kind of weary clarity that comes from long experience: "Iranians are used to the mistreatment and lies of US officials." They weren't surprised. They just said it out loud.
