Three Iranian Women’s Soccer Players Decide to Return to Iran

Iranian Women’s Soccer Players Withdraw Asylum Request !

Would anyone flee a dictatorship… then suddenly go back? I know their hostage diplomacy playbook very well.

The Iranian media now announced that Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Sarbali, and Zahra Meshkinkar, two players and a staff… pic.twitter.com/JilU4ua8JM

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) March 14, 2026

… member of Iran’s women’s national football team, have withdrawn their asylum request in Australia and are heading back to Iran.

Right. Because women usually flee a dictatorship, they remove their for ed hijab and then suddenly decide to go back.

Let’s be clear,, it’s likely means their families are under threat, maybe detained. That is how the Islamic Republic operates.

Many of us Iranians know this playbook well. They used it on me. They imprisoned my brother Ali, for two years to try to silence me, believing that by holding my family hostage they could break my voice.

What stopped them was not their conscience. What helped was international attention and public pressure.

Look at the photos above. When Iranian women step outside the control of the Islamic Republic, even briefly, the first thing they do is remove the compulsory hijab. Freedom begins with the right to choose.

The Islamic Republic understands this. That is why it punishes women athletes, artists, and anyone who dares to live freely.

These women may be forced to return, but the world should understand why.

Three more members of Iran’s women’s soccer team decide against staying in Australia as refugees https://t.co/TkyJ9jEM54

— Just the News (@JustTheNews) March 14, 2026

… Three additional members of Iran’s women’s soccer team who had accepted refugee visas to remain in Australia have decided to go back to Iran, an Australian government minister said on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

“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.

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

After the tournament began, seven members of the 26-person delegation, including six players and one staff member, had accepted humanitarian visas offered by Australian authorities and chose to remain in the country. The rest of the Iranian contingent left Sydney on March 9 to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Australian officials said the visas give the recipients the chance to stay in the country as well as a path for longer-term residency.