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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) \u2014 The Iranian women\u2019s soccer team had yet to reveal plans to leave Malaysia after most of the seven squad members who created a diplomatic furor by accepting asylum in Australia a week ago have rejoined their teammates in Kuala Lumpur, a sport official said Monday.<\/p>\n
The squad flew from Sydney on March 10 after being knocked out of the Women\u2019s Asian Cup in Australia, leaving behind six players and a support staff member who had accepted protection visas.<\/p>\n
Four players and the staffer have since rejoined the team in Kuala Lumpur, the latest flying in on Monday. No reasons have been given for the changes of heart, but the Iranian diaspora in Australia blames pressure from Tehran. Some suspect the team is remaining a 10-hour flight from Sydney until the two outstanding players are persuaded to rejoin them from Australia.<\/p>\n
The team is being supported in Kuala Lumpur by the Asian Football Confederation. The confederation\u2019s general secretary, Windsor Paul John, said the team was waiting in Malaysia’s largest city to make flight connections to their war-torn homeland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be today, tomorrow or next week,\u201d Windsor told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. \u201cWe are just waiting for them to tell us their plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Windsor said his confederation had not received any direct complaints from players about returning home, despite media reports their families in Iran could face retaliation for the team failing to sing their national anthem before the opening match. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t verify anything. We asked them and they said, \u2018No, it\u2019s ok,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThey are actually in high spirits… they didn\u2019t look afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iranian authorities have welcomed the women’s decisions to reject asylum as a victory against Australia and U.S. President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s squad had arrived in Australia for the tournament shortly before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28, complicating travel arrangements.<\/p>\n
Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described the women’s plight in Australia as a \u201cvery complex situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are deeply personal decisions, and the government respects the decisions of those that have chosen to return. And we continue to offer support to the two that are remaining,\u201d Thistlethwaite said.<\/p>\n
Those who stayed in Australia have been moved to an undisclosed safe location and are receiving assistance from the government and the Iranian diaspora community, he said.<\/p>\n
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a political scientist at Sydney’s Macquarie University who spent more than two years in Iranian prisons on spying charges from 2018 to 2020, said \u201cwinning the propaganda war\u201d had overshadowed the women’s welfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe high stakes made the Iranian regime sit up and pay attention and try to force their hand in response, in my view,\u201d Moore-Gilbert said.<\/p>\n
“I do think in this case, had these woman quietly sought asylum without that publicity around them, it\u2019s possible that the Islamic Republic officials might have, as they have in the cases of other Iranian sports people in the past who\u2019ve defected … simply allowed that to happen,” she added.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Tasnim News Agency said the players who left Australia were \u201creturning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland,\u201d describing their return as a failure of what it called an American-Australian political effort.<\/p>\n
Concerns about the team\u2019s safety in Iran heightened when the players didn\u2019t sing the Iranian national anthem.<\/p>\n
The Australian government was urged to help the women by Iranian groups in Australia and by Trump.<\/p>\n
Some members of the Iranian diaspora in Australia have accused the support staffer who initially accepted aylum then left Australia on Saturday of spreading Iranian government propaganda to her teammates via text messages.<\/p>\n
Thistlethwaite said there was no evidence to support the theory that the staffer had persuaded others to leave. All those who had remained in Australia after the team had left were \u201cgenuine asylum seekers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The embassy in the national capital Canberra remains staffed, despite the Australian government expelling the ambassador last year.<\/p>\n
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in August after announcing that intelligence officials had concluded that the Revolutionary Guard had directed arson attacks on a Sydney kosher food company and Melbourne\u2019s Adass Israel Synagogue in 2024.<\/p>\n
Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria vice president Kambiz Razmara said the women who accepted asylum had been under pressure from the Tehran regime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve had to make decisions at the spur of the moment with very little information and they\u2019ve had to react to the circumstance,\u201d Razmara said. \u201cI\u2019m surprised that they\u2019ve decided to go, but I\u2019m actually not surprised because I appreciate the pressures that they\u2019re experiencing.” <\/p>\n
McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n
This story has been edited to correct that Macquarie University is in Sydney, not Melbourne.<\/p>\n