On the 2nd of the local time, during an AFC Women’s Asian Cup match held in Australia, three players and one staff member of the Iranian women’s football team, who had initially expressed their desire to seek asylum, have decided to retract their application. On the 15th, BBC reported that among the seven who had applied for asylum, only two would remain in Australia, including team captain Zahra Ghanbari.
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs announced that three members of the Iranian team decided to abandon their asylum requests and return home. They are expected to travel from Sydney to Tehran via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The BBC, citing human rights activists, reported the possibility that these athletes were pressured to reverse their decisions due to threats against their families. Shiva Amini, a former Iranian futsal national player currently in asylum, claimed on social media platform X that the Iran Football Federation and the Revolutionary Guards colluded to exert organized and intense pressure on the players’ families in Iran.
She further stated that some players decided to return because the threats against their families had become unbearably severe and relentless.
Tony Burke, the Australian Minister for Home Affairs, expressed in a statement that the Australian government did everything possible to provide them with an opportunity for a safe future but acknowledged they faced an incredibly difficult decision.
Meanwhile, Iranian media welcomed the decision of captain Ghanbari to withdraw her asylum application, calling it a “patriotic decision” and saying she “returned to the arms of her homeland.”
Iran’s Ministry of Sports issued a statement emphasizing that the national team’s patriotic spirit thwarted the enemy’s scheme, accusing the Australian government of “playing in Trump’s league.”
Previously, the Iranian women’s national team refused to sing the national anthem during the Asian Cup opening match against South Korea on the 2nd, leading Iran to label them as “wartime traitors.”
Fearing that they could face severe punishment or even death if they returned, the team and their supporters appealed to the international community for assistance.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump also intervened, urging the Australian government to allow their asylum, which Australia accepted. However, one of the players reversed their decision due to concerns about the safety of their family in Iran, leading to other players also retracting their asylum intentions.