Iranian women’s soccer players who had sought asylum in Australia reversed course and left Malaysia for Oman on Monday night, ending days of uncertainty as the group assembled in Kuala Lumpur, according to the Associated Press.
The players spent several hours at the airport checking in and waiting for their flight. They declined to speak to reporters, and several hours of waiting played out in small moments: some chatted while others used their mobile phones. AP described a lone player kneeling several times and praying on a mat before boarding, while Iran embassy staff at the airport also refused to comment.
The Asian Football Confederation said the trip was arranged through the Iranian embassy. In remarks earlier to AP, AFC general secretary Windsor John said the confederation had been told the team was flying to Oman, while he said it was not their final destination. John also said he was not aware of the full travel plans.
John added that the AFC and FIFA will check on the players regularly with the Iranian football federation “as they are our girls as well.” He also said the confederation had not received direct complaints from players about returning home, despite media reports that Iran-based family members could face retaliation after the team did not sing Iran’s national anthem before an opening match. John told reporters, “We couldn’t verify anything. We asked them and they said, ‘No, it’s OK,’” and he said the players “didn’t look afraid” and were “actually in high spirits.”
The episode began after the Iranian squad reached Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup shortly before the Middle East war escalated on Feb. 28. After the team was knocked out in Australia, five of the seven squad members who had accepted protection visas initially left behind some teammates and a support staff member, who had accepted Australian protection visas that allow people who arrive on a valid visa and want to seek asylum in Australia to stay permanently. The squad then flew from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on March 10.
After the team arrived in Malaysia, four players and the staffer later rejoined the rest of the squad in Kuala Lumpur, with the latest arrivals flying in on Monday. No reasons were publicly provided for the changes of heart, though AP reported that the Iranian diaspora in Australia blamed pressure from Tehran. The team’s silence during the anthem was also portrayed differently across reports—ranging from resistance to mourning—while the team did not provide clarification and later sang at the opening of a match, AP said.
Two players remained in Australia. Australian assistant immigration minister Matt Thistlethwaite said Iran welcomed the women’s decisions to reject asylum as a victory against Australia and U.S. President Donald Trump, and he described the situation in Australia as “very complex.” Thistlethwaite said the government respects those who chose to return and continues to offer support to the two players remaining, adding that the two have been moved to an undisclosed safe location and are receiving assistance from the government and from the Iranian diaspora community.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a political scientist at Macquarie University, argued that the broader contest for narrative control turned the episode into a “propaganda war” that overshadowed the women’s welfare. Moore-Gilbert said the “high stakes” made the Iranian regime “sit up and pay attention” and try to force decisions in response, adding: “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.”
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, meanwhile, said the players who left Australia were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland,” calling their return a failure of what it described as an American-Australian political effort.