{"id":503321,"date":"2026-06-30T21:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/503321\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T21:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:00:11","slug":"iran-hit-out-at-lies-and-mistreatment-following-us-officials-joy-at-teams-exit-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/503321\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran hit out at \u2018lies and mistreatment\u2019 following US official\u2019s joy at team\u2019s exit | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s football federation has responded to a senior US official celebrating their exit from the World Cup<\/a> by accusing the co-hosts of peddling \u201clies\u201d, saying they are \u201cused to mistreatment\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the US homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin said he performed a \u201chappy dance\u201d and \u201csung a song or two\u201d after Iran failed to qualify for the last 32.<\/p>\n

Mullin, speaking at a briefing at the government\u2019s special event coordination centre in Washington, said: \u201cI\u2019m just glad they\u2019re [Iran] done, and they\u2019re not coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so happy when we were able to pull their visas and said they could leave the US soil, and I might\u2019ve sung a song or two or maybe even danced a happy dance. I\u2019m very happy they\u2019re going back because there wasn\u2019t a single team that we dealt with more than them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, argued his team were the \u201cmost oppressed\u201d at the tournament in his first press conference and, after their final Group G match in Seattle, Iran\u2019s captain, Mehdi Taremi, intimated the US would rather Iran not advance to the knockout stage.<\/p>\n

Homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin at Capitol Hill this week Photograph: Jos\u00e9 Luis Maga\u00f1a\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to fight against everything here,\u201d Taremi said after last Friday\u2019s draw against Egypt. \u201cI don\u2019t know if people want it or not, but as we see it by our perspective, yeah, they are like that I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghalenoei said on numerous occasions that the treatment of his staff and players was unfair. Eleven of Iran\u2019s wider team, including the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran<\/a> (FFIRI) president, Mehdi Taj, were denied visas by the US authorities.<\/p>\n

They were also angry about their travel arrangements imposed by the US. On the eve of the tournament they were forced to move their training base, relocating from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico.<\/p>\n

Responding to Mullin\u2019s comments, a spokesperson for the FFIRI said: \u201cIranians are used to the mistreatment and lies of US officials, so no one in Iran is surprised by these hostile remarks. These remarks once again demonstrate that US officials have no commitment to international law or the principles expected of a host nation capable of organising a global sporting event.<\/p>\n

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei and assistant coach Saeed Alhoei during the national anthems before the match against Egypt Photograph: Daniel Cole\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that he openly celebrates Iran\u2019s elimination says far more about him than it does about our team. It reflects a level of pettiness that cannot even tolerate the presence of a football team competing on the world\u2019s biggest stage.
\u201cAfter our match against New Zealand, our head coach said that the United States did not want Iran to remain in this tournament because of the inhumane and unprofessional treatment our team experienced. These latest comments only reinforce that belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran left a handwritten note in Tijuana to thank locals for the warm hospitality and also make their feelings clear on the US. \u201cYou showed us that hosting a Fifa World Cup is about far more than stadiums and tickets,\u201d it read. \u201cTrue hosting is about respect, humanity, and dignity. We leave this World Cup with pride, but also with one fundamental question: Did every team truly compete under equal conditions and equal professional standards?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s football federation has responded to a senior US official celebrating their exit from the World Cup by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-503321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}