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.
