{"id":530282,"date":"2026-03-12T00:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530282\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T00:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:48:09","slug":"piers-morgan-attacks-megan-rapinoes-silence-while-iranian-womens-soccer-players-request-asylum-in-australia-after-anthem-controversy-international-sports-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530282\/","title":{"rendered":"Piers Morgan attacks Megan Rapinoe\u2019s silence while Iranian women\u2019s soccer players request asylum in Australia after anthem controversy | International Sports News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/piers-morgan-attacks-megan-rapinoes-silence-while-iranian-womens-soccer-players-request-asylum-in-au.png\" alt=\"Piers Morgan attacks Megan Rapinoe\u2019s silence while Iranian women\u2019s soccer players request asylum in Australia after anthem controversy\" title=\"Piers Morgan attacks Megan Rapinoe\u2019s silence while Iranian women\u2019s soccer players request asylum in Australia after anthem controversy (Image via Getty)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Piers Morgan attacks Megan Rapinoe\u2019s silence while Iranian women\u2019s soccer players request asylum in Australia after anthem controversy (Image via Getty) Piers Morgan has sharply criticized Megan Rapinoe, saying the former United States soccer star has stayed silent about a serious issue involving Iran\u2019s women\u2019s national soccer team. The debate started after several Iranian players asked for safety in Australia during the 2026 AFC Women\u2019s Asian Cup tournament. Australia confirmed that five members of Iran\u2019s squad accepted asylum because they were afraid to return home. The situation became tense after the team earlier refused to sing Iran\u2019s national anthem before a match against South Korea. Iranian state television later called the players \u201cwartime traitors,\u201d raising concerns about their safety if they returned.While the story quickly spread across global sports and political circles, Megan Rapinoe has not publicly spoken about it. Morgan pointed to that silence and accused her of hypocrisy, saying someone who often speaks about women\u2019s rights should also speak about the Iranian players\u2019 situation.<\/p>\n<p>Piers Morgan calls Megan Rapinoe a hypocrite while Anthony Albanese and Tony Burke help Iranian players seeking safety<\/p>\n<p>Morgan shared his criticism on X, saying Rapinoe and other public figures who speak about feminism should not ignore what happened to the Iranian women\u2019s team.\u201cThe silence over this from Rapinoe, and so many supposed \u2018feminists\u2019 like her, is so telling, damning, and hypocritical,\u201d Morgan wrote.He also referred to Rapinoe\u2019s support for transgender athletes competing in women\u2019s sports. Morgan added, \u201cThey would rather campaign for biological men to wreck women\u2019s sport than campaign for these heroic young sportswomen to help save their lives.\u201dThe comments came after Rapinoe recently criticized the United States men\u2019s hockey team on her podcast. She was reacting to players laughing at a joke by Donald Trump about women\u2019s hockey.Rapinoe said on the podcast, \u201cThe United States men\u2019s hockey team in their utter moment of glory, childhood dreams come true, once in a lifetime accomplishment, sensational ruined it for themselves because they allowed themselves to be totally co opted by a clown. And now you are a clown. You look like a clown.\u201dMeanwhile, the situation involving the Iranian players became more complicated during the tournament in Australia. According to Australia\u2019s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, striker Mohaddeseh Zolfi and support staff member Zahra Soltan Moshkehkar were among those offered protection. At first, several members of the delegation accepted asylum.However, Burke later told parliament that one person changed her mind and contacted the Iranian embassy to return home. That phone call revealed where the other players were staying.\u201cI immediately gave the instruction for people to be moved, and that has been dealt with immediately,\u201d Burke said.Australian authorities quickly moved the remaining players to a new location to keep them safe. Five Iranian players ultimately decided to stay in Australia. Burke identified them as Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi.\u201cThey want to be clear they are not political activists. They are athletes who want to be safe,\u201d Burke explained.Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also spoke about the situation. He praised the players and reassured them that they would be protected.\u201cThese are brave women,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cThey are safe here and they should feel at home here.\u201dThe story has now become a mix of sports, politics, and global debate about athlete activism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Piers Morgan attacks Megan Rapinoe\u2019s silence while Iranian women\u2019s soccer players request asylum in Australia after anthem controversy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[208116,208114,208117,49,48,208115,208111,208110,208113,208112,561,82,208118],"class_list":["post-530282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-afc-womens-asian-cup-2026","tag-athlete-activism","tag-australian-prime-minister-anthony-albanese","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-iran-national-anthem-controversy","tag-iran-players-safety","tag-iran-women-soccer-players-asylum","tag-megan-rapinoe-silence","tag-piers-morgan-criticism","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-transgender-athletes-controversy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}