SYDNEY, Australia — Iranian women soccer players claiming asylum in Australia evacuated from their safe house on Wednesday after one team member changed her mind and revealed their location to the Iranian embassy, Canberra said.
Seven members of Iran’s visiting women’s football delegation had sought sanctuary in Australia after they were branded “traitors” at home for refusing to sing the national anthem.
But one member of the group had second thoughts after speaking to other players who had turned down asylum in favor of returning to Iran, Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.
The woman exposed the location of the other asylum seekers when she contacted Iran’s embassy in Australia.
Iranian media, including the Shargh newspaper and Mehr news agency, identified the player who withdrew her asylum request as Mohaddeseh Zolfi. Official sources did not immediately identify her.
“As a result of that it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was,” Burke said. “I immediately gave them instructions for people to be moved and that has been dealt with immediately.”
Australian officials had “made sure this was her decision,” Burke said.
There were fears male minders travelling with the team might try to prevent them seeking asylum.
Rights groups have repeatedly accused Iranian authorities of pressuring athletes abroad by threatening relatives or with the seizure of property if they defect or make statements against the Islamic Republic.
Change of heart
Burke said each player was separated from the squad at Sydney Airport and given time to mull the offer in private.
The last-minute change of heart could inflame an already tense situation between Iran and Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has lauded the bravery of the women, vowing they would be welcomed with open arms.
But Iran’s governing football body has accused Australia of kidnapping the players and forcing them to forsake their home nation against their will.
Iranian players fell silent as the national anthem played ahead of a tournament match in Australia last week, an act seen as a symbol of defiance against the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian women’s national football team refused to sing the anthem of the Islamic Regime. Tonight. At the opening match of the Asian Cup. In front of the entire world.
So, to all liberal Western women:
Watch and learn.
THIS is what real feminism looks like. pic.twitter.com/SriXGbipsY— Samantha Smith (@SamanthaTaghoy) March 3, 2026
A presenter on Iranian state TV branded the players “wartime traitors,” fueling fears they faced persecution, or worse, if they returned home. The presenter was apparently referring to the ongoing joint US-Israel air campaign against Iran.
Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim asylum in Australia.
Two more team members — a player and a support staffer — were granted asylum before the team flew out of Sydney on Tuesday evening.
The Asian Football Confederation said the rest of the Iranian squad were at an unnamed hotel in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur while awaiting the next leg of their long journey home.
The governing body said it would “provide all necessary support to the team during their stay until their onward travel arrangements are confirmed.”
Dramatic footage posted to social media purported to show the moments on Tuesday night when Iranian team staff scrambled to find two players who were trying to seek asylum. It was unclear from the video if they were the two players who eventually received an offer for asylum — though one turned back — or if another two players were trying to bolt the hotel but failed in their efforts.
The footage was posted to Instagram on Tuesday by Leigh Swansborough, an Australian activist, adventurer, and photographer, who has campaigned on behalf of the Iranian soccer team’s rights since they arrived in the country, while calling on the government to offer them asylum.
NEW: The handlers for the women’s Iranian soccer team seen panicking as they race down a staircase after realizing some of the players escaped the facility in Australia.
Six women decided to accept humanitarian visas, allowing them to stay in Australia permanently.
One woman… pic.twitter.com/SEyh8mAERW
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 11, 2026
In the video, Swansborough chases two men and a woman, the latter wearing an Islamic hair-covering, as they rush up and down a staircase in the Royal Pines Resort where the team was staying. Swansborough taunts the three by asserting they are members of the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which officials have said was chaperoning the team.
“You’re in Australia now,” she is heard saying. “You’d better run. We’re going to get you now.”
“What cowards,” she says.
In an accompanying clip, Swansborough explains that she tried to raise the assistance of police officers at the hotel, but they did not intervene. She also remarks that “it looks like the IRGC figured out what we are trying to do,” though it was unclear if she was actively working to help more players escape the hotel.
Swansborough developed a personal connection with Iran and its people when she walked solo across the country in 2022.
The women’s fate captured international attention as Iranian-Australian groups warned they could face dire consequences from Iran’s theocratic government for failing to sing the anthem, even as the players remained silent on the gesture’s meaning or their own concerns about returning. There was further outrage in Australia on Wednesday after news outlets published a photo that appeared to show a woman being led by the wrist by a teammate to the bus bound for the airport, another squad member’s hand at her shoulder.
Additional media reports said that as the bus drove away, at least one of the women used her hand to give an international distress signal to demonstrators at the airport, by placing her thumb inside her palm and then closing the other fingers over it.
???? URGENT
The Iranian women’s national football team used sign language to signal “HELP” while on a transfer bus.
They are in serious danger just for refusing to sing the national anthem.
If anything happens to them, the Islamic Republic is responsible. pic.twitter.com/XQUcYI021O— دل وین (@dil_wan7819) March 8, 2026
‘Strict surveillance’
Iranian-Australian migration agent Naghmeh Danai spoke to five players earlier this week to discuss their options to stay in Australia.
“They were under lots of pressure here. They did not have permission to talk to anyone,” she told AFP on Wednesday.
“Under strict surveillance from the Iranian government officials within the team as team leaders or internal security,” she said.
Although the side sang Iran’s anthem — an ode to the glory of the Islamic Republic — in later matches, human rights activists warned the damage was done.
“The members of the Iranian Women’s National Football Team are under significant pressure and ongoing threat from the Islamic Republic,” said Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran.
“I call on the Australian government to ensure their safety and give them any and all needed support,” he said on social media.
