{"id":426,"date":"2026-07-05T21:15:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T16:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=426"},"modified":"2026-07-05T21:15:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T16:15:39","slug":"mullin-says-he-did-a-happy-dance-after-irans-world-cup-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=426","title":{"rendered":"Mullin says he &#8216;did a happy dance&#8217; after Iran&#8217;s World Cup exit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.politico.com\/5a\/22\/26828dca4899adff6edcd4c36a9b\/congress-homeland-security-89983.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-v-5d6b1cb2=\"\"><!--[--><\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"plain-text-block\" class=\"font-text text-[length:var(--dimension-typescale-body-l)] text-[var(--color-text-primary)] leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]\">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. <\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"plain-text-block\" class=\"font-text text-[length:var(--dimension-typescale-body-l)] text-[var(--color-text-primary)] leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]\">\u201cWe 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,\u201d <!--[-->Mullin<!--]--> said. \u201cThey could stay there rather than come into the United States earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"plain-text-block\" class=\"font-text text-[length:var(--dimension-typescale-body-l)] text-[var(--color-text-primary)] leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]\"><!--[-->Mullin<!--]--> argued the <!--[-->Trump<!--]--> administration provided accommodations unavailable to any other team: Customs and Border Protection officers processed the team\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"plain-text-block\" class=\"font-text text-[length:var(--dimension-typescale-body-l)] text-[var(--color-text-primary)] leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t do that for any other team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"plain-text-block\" class=\"font-text text-[length:var(--dimension-typescale-body-l)] text-[var(--color-text-primary)] leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]\"><!--[-->Mullin<!--]--> also dismissed complaints that the team had to leave immediately after matches, comparing the arrangement to NFL teams routinely flying home after games.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"plain-text-block\" class=\"font-text text-[length:var(--dimension-typescale-body-l)] text-[var(--color-text-primary)] leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]\">\u201cThe game was over. Let them get back to the hotel, their base camp, where they\u2019re at,\u201d he said, noting that the U.S. men\u2019s national team similarly flew back to its Southern California base after a match in Seattle.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"plain-text-block\" class=\"font-text text-[length:var(--dimension-typescale-body-l)] text-[var(--color-text-primary)] leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]\">Behind the scenes, <!--[-->Mullin<!--]--> said Iran presented by far the greatest security challenge of any delegation participating in the tournament.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"plain-text-block\" class=\"font-text text-[length:var(--dimension-typescale-body-l)] text-[var(--color-text-primary)] leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]\">\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a single team \u2014 not a single team \u2014 we had to spend more time with, by far, dealing with what Iran was trying to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.politico.com\/5a\/22\/26828dca4899adff6edcd4c36a9b\/congress-homeland-security-89983.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}