Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had some concerning news when he appeared on Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo's "Sunday Morning Futures."
First, Mullin explained that there had been an "unusual amount" of Iranians with problematic ties trying to sneak through our northern border.
🚨 WOW! DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin reveals Iran tried SNEAKING IN IRGC individuals to the World Cup
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 21, 2026
Not on the Trump admin's watch!
"The World Cup, Iran has a team...the rest of the individuals Iran tried to bring in had DIRECT TIES to the IRGC. These games Iran plays… pic.twitter.com/yRFFW7XOxS
"So our Northern Border, we’ve seen arrests go up daily on Iranian nationals, and we have a good partnership with our Canadian partners that have been able to help apprehend them, too. But it’s worrisome, because the amount of influx we see and the amount of connections we have when we capture the people, that they have direct ties to the IRGC."
The IRGC, of course, is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Mullin said the same concerns arose with Iran's World Cup delegation. While most countries bring roughly 120 support personnel, DHS allowed only about 53 members of Iran's delegation into the United States because many of the others had ties that raised red flags.
“The rest of the individuals that Iran had tried to bring in, all also had direct ties to the IRGC and aren’t their normal traveling group. So these games that Iran plays, unfortunately, makes them an adversary that you can’t trust. And no one knows that more than President Trump."
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Iran is denying Mullin's IRGC charge.
Meanwhile, their coach complained, "Our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup," and is whining about discrimination.
“We were in war conditions for six months, we didn’t have our league operating,” Ghalenoei said. “We had only one FIFA [friendly] date and it took us 40 hours to go and play a match outside of Iran. And our league was not operating and everybody knows about the visa situation, and they know what happened to us coming to the U.S.”
Just like Iran’s opening match here at the renamed Los Angeles Stadium, Ghalenoei said Iran had travel issues and was told it needed to return to its base camp in Tijuana immediately after the game instead of staying the night to recover.
Maybe he should just take a seat. They're lucky they get to be there at all, given the situation. And whining about traveling is silly when the teams are naturally traveling to get from game to game. It just makes them sound weak and not able to deal with things. In a battle like the World Cup, as well as in a battle with the U.S., that's a bad look.
As one report skewering them noted:
(The fact that flying after the game and recovering afterward is normal practice for many teams — the USMNT, for example, did so Friday after playing in Seattle — seems not to have entered this equation.)
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