Zahra Ghanbari, captain of Iran's women's football team, has abandoned her application for asylum in Australia, according to Iranian state media reports from Sunday. She claimed Iran's Football Federation had collaborated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to apply "intense and systemic pressure on the players' families in Iran". Conflict remains ongoing in the Middle East | GETTY Iran's sports ministry declared that "the national spirit and patriotism of the Iranian women's national football team defeated the enemy's plans". Most Iranian players departed Australia on 10 March, two days after their cup exit. The sequence of events has played out amid heightened regional instability, with US-Israeli military strikes on Iran triggering retaliatory attacks across the Middle East.

Source: BBC March 16, 2026 15:44 UTC