>>24355021

>>24363854

>>24363902

>>24367769

3 Iranian soccer players abandon Australia asylum bid to return home

Staffer ‘convinced Iranian soccer players to abandon Australian asylum’

MACKENZIE SCOTT and RICHARD FERGUSON - 15 March 2026

1/2

Members of Australia’s Iranian community believe Iran used a support member of the Women’s Football team to convince the players who sought asylum in Australia to return home.

Iranian diaspora member Tina Kordrostami believes the team’s technical staff member, Zahra Meshkinkar, who was one of the late defectors from the national team, had stayed in Australia as a mouthpiece for the regime.

Ms Kordrostami, who was instrumental in persuading half a dozen players to stay following their short-lived campaign in the Women’s Asian Cup tournament, told The Australian that the federal government was unprepared to counter the reach of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The team member was there the whole time to convince the girls to go back,” Ms Kordrostami said. “But we were hopeful (she intended to stay) because she looked genuinely happy.

“People in Iran have been depending on each other for so long, they don’t know how to trust a Western country because it’s all they know.”

Ms Meshkinkar and the two players, Zahra Sarbali and Mona Hamoudi, left Australia on Saturday for Malaysia, where the remainder of the squad is waiting until it is safe enough to continue their journey home.

The claims by Ms Kordrostami have been supported by independent Iranian broadcaster, Iran International, which reported that Ms Meshkinkar has been encouraging the women from inside the safe house.

There are now fears among the local Iranian community that the last three players granted humanitarian visas in Australia – including national team captain Zahra Gambari – may choose to return to their war-torn homeland.

Five players of the Iranian national team, known as the Lionesses – who had been based on the Gold Coast for the tournament – managed to escape their Revolutionary Guard handlers at the Royal Pines Resort with the help of federal police last week.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed on Sunday morning that the squad members had decided to return despite being ­offered multiple opportunities to reconsider.

“While the Australian government can that opportunities are provided and communicated, we cannot remove the context in which the players are making these incredibly difficult decisions,” Mr Burke said.

“The Australian government has done everything we could to make sure these women were provided with the chance for a safe ­future in Australia.

“Australians should be proud that it was in our country that these women experienced a nation presenting them with genuine choices and interacted with authorities seeking to help them.”

A third player, midfielder Mohaddeseh Zolfi, returned to Iran with the team last week after previously indicating she would opt for asylum.

(continued)

>>24382751

2/2

In a statement shared by regime-aligned news organisation Tasnim News Agency, Iranian officials linked the women’s decision to withdraw their asylum claim to a rejection of the West, stating the women were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland”.

The statement described the outcome as “the disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump”.

“The national spirit and patriotism of the Iranian women’s national football team girls defeated the enemy’s plans against this team, which had been widely reflected in the hostile media with numerous projections.”

The Australian government had previously been accused of creating a “climate of intimidation and coercion” to convince team players and officials to stay.

Jim Chalmers said Australian officials were “incredibly professional” in their efforts to assist the women throughout the Asian Cup tournament.

“(Tony Burke’s) officials are absolutely top shelf, and they’ve been working around the clock on these issues and on a number of related issues as well,” Dr Chalmers said.

“The way these things unfold is ultimately a matter for those officials to determine. They have done the absolute best they can by these Iranian women under extreme and extraordinary pressure, and often that requires some pretty dramatic and unusual steps.”

The Lionesses arrived in Australia to participate in the Women’s Asian Cup just days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, staying on the Gold Coast under strict surveillance from regime-connected staff travelling with the team.

Players were labelled “traitors” by the regime for refusing to sing the national anthem at their first match, and were booed by crowds at the two following games when they decided to participate.

They bowed out of the Women’s Asian Cup last Sunday following a third straight loss, with the majority of the team returning home on Wednesday.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/three-asylumseeking-iranian-soccer-players-choose-to-return-to-iran/news-story/41f5b800fc1bd0cc7ac5ec154c79fb79

https://www.9news.com.au/national/iranian-footballers-granted-asylum-three-more-decide-to-return-to-iran/3bbdd83b-1fe2-4eed-b545-6b24ef7b8740

>>24355021

>>24363854

>>24363902

>>24367769

>>24382751

Three more Iranian soccer team members return home, amid fears of group infiltration

Matthew Knott - March 15, 2026

1/2

The number of Iranian women’s soccer players seeking asylum in Australia is rapidly diminishing, raising alarm about the hardline Tehran regime’s efforts to convince the players to return home, including the possible use of infiltrators.

Three more of the seven members of the delegation who sought asylum changed their minds and decided to return to Iran on Saturday night, and Iranian-Australian community leaders fear more reversals could follow.

Multiple sources in the Iranian diaspora said they believed at least one further player planned to leave Australia, but this had not been confirmed on Sunday evening.

The Iranian regime leapt upon the latest news as a propaganda victory, declaring it a failure for US President Donald Trump, who called for the women to be allowed to remain in Australia.

“Overnight, three members of the Iranian Women’s Football Team made the decision to join the rest of the team on their journey back to Iran,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement on Sunday morning.

“After telling Australian officials they had made this decision the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options.

“While the Australian government can ensure that opportunities are provided and communicated, we cannot remove the context in which the players are making these incredibly difficult decisions.”

The Tasnim News Agency, an outlet with close links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the players had joined their teammates in Malaysia before returning to Iran.

The outlet said the players had “rejected Australia’s seductive and political offer of asylum”, branding it a “patriotic decision”.

It earlier called the players’ decision to leave Australia a “disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump.

“The national spirit and patriotism of the Iranian women’s national football team girls defeated the enemy’s plans against this team,” the news agency said.

Tina Kordrostami, an Iranian-Australian community leader, said she feared the regime would use threats to convince the remaining players in Australia to return to Iran.

“I am not too hopeful. I have real concerns,” she said.

Kordrostami said she and other diaspora activists believed technical staffer Zahra Soltan Meshkehkar – one of the three women who left the country on Saturday night – played an important role in convincing the players to change their minds.

Kordrostami said she believed Meshkehkar was a regime infiltrator, although this claim has not been verified.

“She is a mother figure – they look up to her,” she said.

(continued)

>>24382789

2/2

Sara Rafiee, a human rights activist who campaigned for the players to be given the right to stay in Australia, said she held similar fears.

“While the full circumstances remain unclear, many within the community are concerned that significant pressure may have been exerted on the players, potentially including pressure conveyed through an individual described as ‘support staff’ who reportedly sought asylum in Australia,” she said.

“Some community members fear that this person may have been used by the regime to influence the players from within the group and pressure them to return.”

The Iranian-Australian community has acknowledged the players faced an impossible situation as they weighed up whether to return to possible persecution in Iran or risk exposing their families to retaliation and financial harm.

A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said all members of the delegation who received asylum were “thoroughly vetted” and it had not been established that Meshkehkar was an infiltrator.

Burke said every possible effort had been made to ensure the women were provided the chance to seek a new life in Australia.

Five team members separated from the team and sought asylum last Monday, and were later joined by two additional members of the delegation – one player and one member of the support staff.

Iranian player Mohaddeseh Zolfi, 21, contacted Iranian officials on Wednesday morning and asked to be collected from a safe house soon after Burke announced she had sought asylum in Australia.

The Iranian-Australian community feared at the time that the regime in Iran would redouble its efforts to convince the remaining women to return to Iran to achieve a propaganda victory over Australia.

“They are clearly being threatened. I am worried for the rest of them,” Kordrostami said at the time. “The regime is clearly escalating matters at its end.”

A member of the Iranian soccer team told protesters in Malaysia they weren’t scared about going home and that officials had promised them rewards when they return.

In the video, translated by members of the diaspora, the player said they were promised “rewards” or “benefits” by officials and told that they would be welcomed and treated well upon their return, like princesses or queens.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/three-more-iranian-soccer-players-change-minds-decide-to-return-home-20260315-p5oajx.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmeBdL96aps

https://x.com/Tasnimnews_EN/status/2032803381085966561

>>24355021

>>24363854

>>24363902

>>24367769

>>24382751

>>24382789

‘Obedient and stupid’: Iran blasts Australia as three soccer players reverse asylum claim

Samantha Maiden - March 15, 2026

1/2

There are fears that one of the late Iranian defectors to Australia – a football team manager – has been organising and relaying messages from the regime to the women.

Raha Pourbakhsh, a journalist at independent Iranian broadcaster Iran International has reported that Zahra Meshkinkar, a member of the team’s technical staff, has been encouraging the woman to return home from inside the safe house.

She is among the group of three members of the country’s women’s national football delegation who has backflipped on her late asylum claim and opted to return home to the war zone.

Iran blasts Aus after asylum backflip

Iran blasted Australia as an “obedient and stupid presence in Trump’s playground” after the three members reversed their asylum claims.

Iranian outlets aligned with the regime earlier reporter two more players and a support staff member — Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Sarbali, and Ms Meshkinkar — opted to return home overnight.

Midfielder Mohaddeseh Zolfi — had previously her withdrawn asylum requests returned to join the team in Malaysia.

In a post published by the Tasnim News Agency, a media organisation closely aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian officials framed the decision as a patriotic rejection of Western influence.

The statement said in full:

“The disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump,” the statement said.

“Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Sarbali and Zahra Meshkinkar, two players and a member of the technical staff of the national women’s football team, have withdrawn their asylum application in Australia and are currently leaving for Malaysia and returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland.

“This is while previously, Mohaddeseh Zolfi, another player of our country’s national women’s football team, with her heart for the homeland and the Iranian flag, rejected the offer to stay in Australia and decided to return to Iran.

“The national spirit and patriotism of the Iranian women’s national football team girls defeated the enemy’s plans against this team, which had been widely reflected in the hostile media with numerous projections.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the group had been given the opportunity to remain in Australia after several athletes indicated they feared repercussions if they returned home.

“After telling Australian officials they had made this decision the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options,” he said.

While the Australian Government can ensure that opportunities are provided and communicated, we cannot remove the context in which players make these incredibly difficult decisions.

“The Australian Government has done everything we could to make sure these women were provided with the chance for a safe future in Australia.

“Australians should be proud that it was in our country that these women experienced a nation presenting them with genuine choices and interacted with authorities seeking to help them.”

(continued)

>>24382832

2/2

‘Heavy atmosphere’

The saga unfolded after the Iranian women’s team — known as the Lionesses — drew global attention when players did not sing the national anthem before a match against South Korea on the Gold Coast.

The silence was widely interpreted as a protest against the Iranian regime and sparked a fierce reaction in Iranian state media.

Iran’s national women’s team coach Marziyeh Jafari later said over the weekend in a now deleted Telegram post that the broadcast created an atmosphere that deeply affected the players.

“Our girls were affected in the first match by the heavy atmosphere that had been created,” she said in a statement released by Iran’s football federation.

“But the greater mistake was made by those who, at home, failed to understand that atmosphere and sounded the call to arms against the daughters of this land.”

She said threats directed at the athletes in Iran had played a role in the turmoil.

“I am certain that if that atmosphere had not been created, not a single one of our players would have stayed in Australia,” she said.

Australian-Iranian community groups assisting the women say the decision facing the athletes has been extraordinarily difficult.

Supporters gathered outside stadiums during the tournament banging drums and chanting “let them go” and “save our girls” as the crisis unfolded.

A spokesperson for community organisation AusIran said one of the players who initially sought protection sent a message expressing fear for relatives still in Iran.

“They have all of our families hostage in Iran,” the message reportedly said.

The group said Iranian athletes travelling overseas are sometimes forced to sign documents placing family assets under government control.

“They usually force them to sign forms and basically give control of their assets, businesses, everything to the government,” the spokesperson said.

“Basically their lives become hostages for the regime while they are overseas.”

Iranian officials have rejected those claims and instead accused Australia of attempting to coerce athletes into defecting.

Iranian Football Federation president Mehdi Taj falsely alleged Australian authorities interfered with the delegation and prevented players from leaving freely.

“After the game, unfortunately, the Australian police came and intervened, removing one or two of the players from the hotel, according to the news we have,” he said in remarks reported by Iranian media.

He also claimed the squad encountered difficulties boarding their flight home.

“They completely blocked them at the gate and told everyone to become refugees,” Taj alleged.

Australian authorities have strongly denied those claims.

Mr Burke said the government’s goal had been to ensure every member of the delegation had the opportunity to make a free decision.

“These individuals were meeting a government that said the choice is up to you,” he said.

“And as Australians we should be proud that we’re that sort of country.”

The remaining players who chose to stay are currently in a secure location in Queensland as officials begin the process of transitioning their humanitarian visas into permanent status, while members of the delegation returning home were photographed in transit through Kuala Lumpur on their way back to Iran.

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/obedient-and-stupid-iran-blasts-australia-as-three-soccer-players-reverse-asylum-claim/news-story/7df293fbaf21b626073b315a95218266

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603141145

https://tasnimnews.ir/3540849

https://tasnimnews.ir/3540530