5th member of Iran’s women’s soccer team changes her mind by accepting asylum in Australia

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia – Another member of Iran’s women’s football team who accepts a refugee visa living in Australia has decided to return to his country, said a sports official on Monday.

That leaves members of the original group of seven who accepted asylum as sticking to their original decisions.

Iran’s women’s football team had yet to reveal plans to leave Malaysia when most of the seven members who caused controversy by accepting asylum in Australia last week joined their counterparts in Kuala Lumpur, a sports official said.

The team flew out of Sydney on March 10 after being eliminated from the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, leaving behind six players and a support staff member who received protection visas.

Four players and staff have rejoined the team in Kuala Lumpur, the latest to fly on Monday. No reasons have been given for the change of heart, but the Iranian diaspora in Australia blames pressure from Tehran. Some suspect that the team held a 10-hour flight from Sydney until two prominent players were persuaded to join and travel from Australia.

The team is supported in Kuala Lumpur by the Asian Football Confederation. The alliance’s general manager, Windsor Paul John, said the team was waiting in Malaysia’s biggest city to connect with flights to their war-torn country.

“It could be today, tomorrow or next week,” Windsor told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. “We are waiting for them to tell us about their plans.”

Windsor said his federation had not received any direct complaints from players about returning home, despite media reports that their families in Iran could face retaliation for the team’s failure to play their national anthem before the opening game.

“We couldn’t confirm anything, we asked them and they said, ‘No, it’s okay,'” he said. “They were actually in the air. … They didn’t look scared.”

Iranian authorities welcomed the women’s decisions to refuse asylum as a victory against Australia and President Trump.

The Iranian team had arrived in Australia for the tournament shortly before the Middle East war began on February 28, making travel arrangements difficult.

Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described the plight of women in Australia as “a very complex situation.”

“These are deeply personal decisions, and the government respects the decisions of those who have chosen to return. And we continue to support the remaining two,” Thistlethwaite said.

Those living in Australia have been moved to an undisclosed safe location and are receiving assistance from the government and the Iranian diaspora community, he said.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a political scientist at Sydney’s Macquarie University who spent more than two years in Iranian prisons on espionage charges from 2018 to 2020, said “winning the propaganda war” was at the expense of women’s welfare.

“The high stakes have made the Iranian regime sit up and take notice and try to force their hand to respond, in my opinion,” Moore-Gilbert said.

“I think that in this case, if these women wanted to be quietly sheltered without this information around them, it is possible that the officials of the Islamic Republic would have them, as they have done in some of the Iranian sports in the past who have rebelled … they allowed that to happen,” he added.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said the players who left Australia “returned to the warm embrace of their families and homeland,” describing their return as a failure of what they called a US-Australian political effort.

Concerns about the team’s safety in Iran grew when the players did not sing the Iranian national anthem.

The Australian government was urged to help women by Iranian groups in Australia and the American president.

Some members of the Iranian diaspora in Australia have accused a support worker who first accepted asylum, then left Australia on Saturday, of spreading Iranian government propaganda to his allies through text messages.

Thistlethwaite said there was no evidence to support the view that the job prompted others to leave. All those who remained in Australia after the group’s departure were “genuine asylum seekers,” he said.

Iran’s embassy in the national capital Canberra remains operational, despite the Australian government expelling the embassy last year.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese severed diplomatic ties with Iran in August after announcing that intelligence officials had concluded that the Revolutionary Guard was planning an arson attack on a Sydney kosher food company and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in 2024.

Australia-Iranian Society of Victoria vice-president Kambiz Razmara said the women who accepted asylum were under pressure from the Tehran regime.

“They had to make decisions quickly with very little information and they had to react to this situation,” said Razmara. “I am surprised that they have decided to leave, but in fact I am not surprised because I appreciate the pressure they are facing.”