WASHINGTON: US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin celebrated Iran’s elimination from the World Cup, saying he did a “happy dance,” Sports Business Journal reported on Monday.
The Iranian team barely missed out on reaching the knockout rounds of the tournament. They drew all three of their matches in Group G and finished as the ninth-best third-place team after Austria scored a last-minute goal against Algeria in the final group-stage match. The top eight third-place teams earned spots in the round of 32.
Mullin didn’t hide his overjoyed reaction to the news that Iran was eliminated. He spoke at a World Cup security briefing in Washington, per SBJ, saying he was “so glad they’re gone” and that he was “very happy they’re going back because there wasn’t a single team that we dealt with more than them.”
With the United States in the middle of a military and political conflict with Iran, the US government restricted the Iranian soccer team’s movements during the World Cup. Prior to the event, Iran moved its planned training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana. The US limited the amount of time the Iranian team could spend in the country preceding each match and required the squad to exit the nation right after each contest.
