state media labeled them \u201ctraitors\u201d<\/a> for standing silent during the Iranian national anthem before a match last Monday.\n <\/p>\n\n The act, which was interpreted as a gesture of defiance against the regime, came two days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAs a result of their brave act of civil disobedience in refusing to sing the current regime\u2019s national anthem, they face dire consequences should they return to Iran,\u201d Pahlavi posted on X. \u201cI call on the Australian government to ensure their safety and give them any and all needed support.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Sources told CNN that the team was forced to salute and sing the Iranian national anthem on Thursday ahead of the group stage match against host Australia. The women also sang the anthem and gave a military salute before Sunday\u2019s defeat.\n <\/p>\n
\n Iran coach Marziyeh Jafari told reporters after the Sunday match that the team was keen to return home. \u201cPersonally, I would like to return to my country as soon as possible and be with my compatriots and family,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n
\n For the Iranian team, any flight home would be fraught with danger and delay, given airspace closures. But having angered Iran\u2019s leaders, supporters say they face an even greater risk of being punished for \u201ctreason.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n When asked on Sunday if there\u2019d been any contact between Australian officials and the Iranian players, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she didn\u2019t want to \u201cget into commentary about the Iranian women\u2019s team.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe stand in solidarity with the men and women of Iran and particularly Iranian women and girls,\u201d she told the ABC.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reza Pahlavi, Iran\u2019s exiled former crown prince, has called on the Australia government to ensure the safety of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-329245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Iran](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/gettyimages-2265394606.jpg?c=original&q=w_1280,c_fill\/f_avif\")
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