Summary of this article
The Iranian women's football team made headlines when they refused to sing the national anthem before a match.
State-controlled Iranian media calls the players 'wartime traitors'.
West voiced concern for the womens' safety and called for asylum.
Concerns surrounding the return of the Iranian national women’s football team intensified as the team took on the journey back to their country from Australia on Monday, following their exit from the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup 2026.
The team arrived in Sydney on Tuesday evening from the Gold Coast after their loss to Philippines in the final game of the tournament on Sunday.
Last week, in their opening match against South Korea, the Iranian women, aka Lionesses, made headlines when they refused to sing the national anthem before the match, amid US-Israel attacks on the country in an act of defiance.
Footage from state-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting emerged in which the presenter named Mohammad Reza Shahbazi criticised the players for their act, deeming them to be ‘wartime traitors’ in the face of a national emergency. "In times of war, traitors must be dealt with more harshly. Anyone who takes even a single step against the country during wartime must face stronger consequences. This is no longer some symbolic protest or demonstration. In wartime conditions, going there and refusing to sing the national anthem is the height of shamelessness and betrayal,” he was quoted saying.
People from across the world voiced serious concern for the safety of the players if they returned to Iran. Numerous supporters demonstrated in front of the team bus seeking asylum for the players and refusing to let them return. US President Donald Trump took to social media to exert pressure on the Australian government, terming their decision to let the Iranian women fly back to be a ‘humanitarian mistake’.
The team, however, sung the national anthem in unison extending a salute before their final match against Philippines.
Following much conjecture and international pressure, five members of the Iranian women's football team were initially granted humanitarian visas in Australia. Trump immediately posted on social media, “I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way. Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.”
On Tuesday, two more players reportedly sought asylum in Australia after refusing to board the flight back. Australia's humanitarian visa offered to these seven players grants permanent protection to refugees and people in humanitarian need. Visa holders can live, work and study in the country.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke, had earlier said the first five women — Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi — who had moved out from the team hotel, "were moved to a safe location" by Australian police. The Government had extended the offer for other members of the squad to stay in the country. He had confirmed that the athletes were given time and space to make their own decision about whether to return.
“Every single member of that team was put in a situation where they were just with Home Affairs officials, where the people who might put pressure on them were nowhere near them at all, and they were given a choice,” Burke said. However, in response to Trump’s post, Ismail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called out the West’s concern as “hypocrisy and audacity” and further went on to criticise the US’ killing of “170 innocent Iranian schoolgirls in Minab in a two-stage Tomahawk missile attack” and now “attempting to use the women athletes as hostages under the guise of rescuing them.”
He added that the players had no cause for worry and that Iran welcomes the players back with ‘open arms’.
Despite assurance on behalf of the Iranian government, the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari, still remains fresh in collective memory. The 27-year-old wrestler was sentenced to death in 2020 after being convicted for the killing a security guard during the 2018 anti-government protests. He had said in an appeal that he had been tortured into a confession which was eventually used against him in court.
Amnesty International had voiced its protest against the execution, calling out the Iranian authorities repeated use of the death penalty.
“This young man desperately sought help in court to receive a fair trial and prove his innocence. Leaked voice recordings of him in court expose how his pleas for judges to investigate his torture complaints and bring another detainee who had witnessed his torture to testify were unlawfully and cruelly ignored,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Western commentators have pointed out that the women might court similar threats as their act of defiance could account to treason, resulting in death penalty or long-term imprisonment in accordance with Iran’s penal code.
It has been reported that the remaining players of the 15-person squad and some staff members have flown to Malaysia.
Talmiz Ahmad, former diplomat and West Asia expert, feels that America’s concern for the athletes is a concerted attempt to airbrush the situation at home. “Such episodes with sports people have happened many times earlier in the past in different countries. Different sportsmen have either been co-opted and they have left their country. This, however, is a deliberate and crude attempt by the Americans to cover up an extraordinary crime of deliberately bombing a girl's school and killing 180 girls,” Ahmad says.
Ahmad points out that unlike numerous instances of defection in sport, the western publicity being given to this incident is to underplay the gravitas of the attack. “It was a very deliberate strike and the tomahawk used on the school is something only Americans have. It was a double tap operation which means 20 minutes after the first attack, when the rescuers came, they launched a second attack. So the US’ concern speaks loudly of hypocrisy here,” he notes.
Speaking of Iran’s streak of executions which was brought to focus by Western media, Ahmad notes, “These instances were not condoned and should have been avoided. But it is important to understand that The West led by the United States has been actively and bitterly hostile towards Iran and its revolution since 1979. American sanctions have been so onerous that at least 20 million Iranians who were in the middle class have slipped below the poverty line. On top of that there has been a sustained focus on regime change. So, when there is a consistent threat, a regime tends to overreact at home. Again, the world doesn’t condone these incidents.”
Numerous critics from West Asia and the global south, including Ahmad have contrasted USA’s concern with the recent crackdown on protestors in their country. “ The Americans have cracked down very harshly on pro-Palestinian demonstrations in their own country. Many people, including a number of women, have been removed, deported or put in prison. There is a neo-fascist trend in the United States which keeps intensifying every passing day. Thus, Washington’s concern is as shallow and as facile as it could get,” adds Ahmad.
