KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Iranian women’s soccer team left Malaysia on Monday night for Oman, ending days of uncertainty after five of the seven squad members who sparked a diplomatic furor by seeking asylum in Australia reversed their decisions and rejoined the team in Kuala Lumpur.
The squad spent several hours at the airport checking in and waiting for their flight. They declined to speak to reporters. Some chatted while others used their mobile
phones. A lone player knelt several times and prayed on a mat before boarding the plane. Iran embassy staff at the airport also refused to comment.
The Asian Football Confederation general secretary, Windsor John, earlier told The Associated Press the team’s departure was arranged by the Iranian embassy. He said the AFC, which is supporting the Iranian team in Kuala Lumpur, was told they are flying to Oman, but that isn’t their final destination. He said he wasn’t aware of their full travel plans.
Asked if the confederation is satisfied that the women will be safe back in Iran, Windsor said the AFC and FIFA will check up on them regularly with the Iranian football federation "as they are our girls as well.”
The squad flew from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on March 10 after being knocked out of the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, initially leaving behind six players and a support staff member who had accepted protection visas, which allow those who arrived on a valid visa and want to seek asylum in Australia to stay in the country permanently.
Four players and the staffer have since rejoined the team in Kuala Lumpur, the latest flying in on Monday. No reasons have been given for the changes of heart. The Iranian diaspora in Australia blames pressure from Tehran.
Windsor said at a news conference earlier that his confederation had not received any direct complaints from players about returning home, despite media reports their families in Iran could face retaliation for the team failing to sing their national anthem before the opening match.
The silence during the anthem was variously reported as an act of resistance or a show of mourning. The team didn’t clarify, and it sang at the opening of a later match.
“We couldn’t verify anything. We asked them and they said, ‘No, it’s OK,’” he said. “They are actually in high spirits... they didn’t look afraid.”
Iranian authorities have welcomed the women's decisions to reject asylum as a victory against Australia and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Iran’s squad had arrived in Australia for the tournament shortly before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28, complicating travel arrangements.
Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described the women's plight in Australia as a “very complex situation.”
“These are deeply personal decisions, and the government respects the decisions of those that have chosen to return. And we continue to offer support to the two that are remaining,” Thistlethwaite said.
The two players who stayed 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 spying charges from 2018 to 2020, said “winning the propaganda war” had overshadowed the women's welfare.
“The high stakes made the Iranian regime sit up and pay attention and try to force their hand in response, in my view,” Moore-Gilbert said.
"I do think in this case, had these woman quietly sought asylum without that publicity around them, it’s possible that the Islamic Republic officials might have, as they have in the cases of other Iranian sportspeople in the past who’ve defected ... simply allowed that to happen," she added.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said the players who left Australia were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland,” describing their return as a failure of what it called an American-Australian political effort.
Concerns about the team’s safety in Iran heightened when the players didn’t sing the Iranian national anthem.
The Australian government was urged to help the women by Iranian groups in Australia and by Trump.
The embassy in the national capital, Canberra, remains staffed, despite the Australian government expelling the ambassador last year.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in August after announcing that intelligence officials had concluded that the Revolutionary Guard had directed arson attacks on a Sydney kosher food company and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in 2024.
The vice president of the Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria, Kambiz Razmara, said the women who accepted asylum had been under pressure from the Iranian regime.
“They’ve had to make decisions at the spur of the moment with very little information and they’ve had to react to the circumstance,” Razmara said. “I’m surprised that they’ve decided to go, but I’m actually not surprised because I appreciate the pressures that they’re experiencing."
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McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia. Associated Press videojournalist Mohd. Syawalludin Mohd. Zain in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.
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This story has been edited to correct that Macquarie University is in Sydney, not Melbourne.
