Iran captain latest footballer to drop asylum bid, Iranian state media says

The captain of the Iranian women's football team has withdrawn her bid for Australian asylum, Iran's state media has said, making her the fifth member of the delegation to change her mind.

Zahra Ghanbari will fly from Malaysia back to Iran, the IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.

It comes after Australian authorities confirmed on Saturday that three other women had also dropped their asylum applications, meaning only two of the seven to initially accept Australia's offer of humanitarian visas remain in the country as defectors.

They had originally sought sanctuary after concerns the team would face repercussions for staying silent during the country's anthem attheir opening Asian Cup match.

Human rights activists have said the women may have been pressured to reverse their decisions through threats against their families.

Shiva Amini, an exiled former Iranian national futsal player, said she had received information Iran's Football Federation, working with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had "placed intense and systemic pressure on the players' families in Iran".

"Several of the players decided to go back because the threats against their families became unbearable and the intimidation was relentless," she wrote on X on Sunday.

Iranian media reports hailed Ghanbari's decision, with IRNA saying she was "returning to the embrace of the homeland" and the Mehr news agency calling it a "patriotic decision".

Australian authorities have not yet commented on her change of heart.

On Saturday, three other members withdrew their bids for asylum, named by human rights activists in the Iranian diaspora as Zahra Soltan Meshkehkar, Mona Hamoudi and Zahra Sarbali.

Confirming their decisions, Australia's home affairs minister said his government had done everything it could to ensure the women were given the chance to have a safe future in the country.

"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," Tony Burke said in a statement.

"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."

In a statement, Iran's sports ministry said "the national spirit and patriotism of the Iranian women's national football team defeated the enemy's plans against this team," adding Australia's government was "playing in Trump's field".

State-linked news agency Tasnim said the three were on their way to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to join the rest of the squad and were "returning to the warm embrace of their families and homeland after withdrawing their asylum application in Australia".

It said they had resisted "psychological warfare, extensive propaganda and seductive offers".

Last week one player had changed her mind, followed by the two players and one staff member who left Australia on Saturday.

Concerns grew for the Iranian team after they refused to sing the country's anthem in their opening Asian Cup match against South Korea on 2 March - which led to them being branded "wartime traitors" in Iran amid calls for a harsh punishment.

The team did sing the anthem in their last two games before they were eliminated on Sunday, leading critics to believe they had been told to sing by government officials accompanying them during the tournament.

The remaining Iranian players left Australia on Tuesday night local time - two days after they were knocked out of the Women's Asian Cup.

The football drama has unfolded against a backdrop of war in the Middle East after US-Israeli strikes on Iran prompted retaliatory attacks from Iran across the region.