Key Points
- Half of the six team members who had accepted asylum have decided to return home to Iran.
- The departing members have since been identified by Iranian media and photographed in Malaysia where they are reportedly en route to Tehran.
There are fresh concerns for the welfare of three members of Iranian women's football team who have decided to return to Iran after being granted humanitarian visas
In a statement on Sunday morning, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the trio were given repeated chances to talk about their options, but the players chose to join the rest of the team on their journey back to Iran.
The departing members have since been identified by Iranian media and photographed in Malaysia where they are reportedly en route to Tehran.
"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," Burke said in a statement.
"The Australian government has done everything we could to make sure these women were provided with the chance for a safe future in Australia."
Their exit has prompted welfare concerns from politicians and the community.
Where are they now?
Earlier this week, seven members of the football team who were in Australia for the Asian Cup were granted humanitarian visas — but one member decided to return to Iran, hours after accepting the offer.
Now, half of the six team members who had accepted asylum have also decided to return home to Iran.
A photograph of the trio in an airport terminal in Malaysia is being circulated by Iranian media agency Tasnim News, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"After being in Malaysia and joining the other Iranian women's national football players, these three will travel to Tehran in the coming days to once again be in the warm embrace of their families and homeland," the agency said on Sunday morning.
The outlet also identified the three departing members.
"Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Sarbali, and Zahra Meshkinkar, two players and a member of the technical staff of the Iranian women's national football team, have withdrawn their asylum application in Australia and are leaving for Malaysia to return to the warm embrace of their families and homeland," it wrote on social media.
SBS News has not independently verified their identities.
Burke said Australians "should be proud" that it was in Australia where the women, "experienced a nation presenting them with genuine choices and interacted with authorities seeking to help them".
'Worried for them'
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he would not guess at the reason the women changed their minds, but acknowledged it is a "difficult decision".
"I am worried about them. I can only imagine the pressure that they feel and how difficult these sorts of decisions would be for them," he told Channel 7 on Sunday morning.
"I'm pleased that there are still a number of these Iranian women who will be staying."
Farhad Soheil, an Iranian community activist, told SBS News the three women had likely decided to return to Iran out of fear.
"The first thing that came to my mind is definitely that they have been threatened, especially their family back home. It must be the main reason they're going back," he said.
"They don't want their family to be sacrificed for their decision."
He said that members of the Iranian Australian community were concerned that the Iranian regime could have made contact with the players and threatened them directly.
"We want to know how the regime managed to communicate with them and convince them when they were in a safe house," he said.
Ongoing concerns for safety of players who stay
The three members of the team remain in Australia with temporary humanitarian visas valid for 12 months, which provide a pathway to permanent residency.
Advocates are warning that players building a new life in Australia might face challenges after they refused to sing the national anthem in their first Asian Cup match in Australia.
Nos Hosseini, a spokesperson for the Iranian Women's Association, said that by refusing to sing the national anthem, the team "without intending to" made "a political statement," which might endanger them even here in Australia.
Hosseini has reportedly been targeted by foreign interference in Australia, as she faced threats in 2023 for campaigning against the regime.
Iran has a track record of foreign interference in Australia, according to security agencies. In its latest threat assessment in 2025, ASIO warned that Australia is "not immune to hostile nation states, such as Iran, undertaking acts of security concern on our shores or near region".
In February 2023, then-Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil revealed ASIO had disrupted an operation on Australian soil targeting an Australian-Iranian critic of the regime.
Hosseini fears that the same could occur to the three team members even while they are in Australia.
"Given how much publicity this story has received all over the world, it wouldn't surprise me if the Iranian regime and its agents, affiliates, and sympathisers would be keeping a close eye on the girls, or will keep a close eye on the girls in the near future when they start going about their lives," she told SBS News.
"Even though they've made it clear that they're not political and they don't want to be labelled as such, and just want to focus on their sport."
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
