The dangers faced by lady soccer players from Iran

Some terrible facts about why some Iranian lady soccer players forfeited a chance for asylum overseas:

For most international athletes, the biggest concern is losing the game. For Iranian women, the real fear is losing your life. That’s how dangerous the situation has become for a group of national soccer players, whose story at Australia’s Asia Cup quickly became the very human face of the regime at war with America. Torn by the chance to run from the cruelty of their homeland, but knowing their families could die for it, all but two girls made the ultimate sacrifice — turning their backs on a chance for freedom to embrace a fate even they know is uncertain.

For the last two weeks, the world has been riveted by the international soccer tournament Down Under for one reason: the hijab-wearing team from Iran. Days after bombs started raining down on their homeland, the players stood a half a world away on the turf in defiant silence as their national anthem played. Their quiet protest sent a powerful message on the global stage, but it also put them in the crosshairs of a murderous regime that spent the last several months slaughtering thousands of its own for less brazen acts.

Despite their hero status in Australia, the women were labeled “wartime traitors” by Iranian state media — a not-so-subtle ultimatum that led the team to sing the anthem for the rest of the tournament. But instead of boarding a plane for Tehran after their three straight losses, the women lingered for days at their stopover in Malaysia, alarmed about what awaited them when they touched down.

Awed by their courage, several world leaders weighed in, including President Donald Trump, warning the girls not to go home. Forcing them to go back to Iran could be a death sentence, he insisted. “Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister,” he urged Australia’s Anthony Albanese, “give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”

Albanese was already on it, promising anyone in the Iranian women’s delegation a chance at a new life with humanitarian visas. Seven accepted. Within 48 hours, five changed their minds, including the team’s captain. The players were “given repeated chances to talk about their options” but ultimately faced “incredibly difficult decisions,” Australia Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced last Saturday. Tina Kordrostami, a councilor for the Australian City of Ryde, explained that it was an “upsetting update,” but confirmed that “they are heavily intimidated and being communicated to directly by the regime.”

“I know families have even been detained,” Kordrostami said somberly. “I know family members are missing.” And one thing she wants people in the West to understand is that “Iranians within the country have in many ways given up on the West, and they are only relying on one another to survive this regime. So, when we do offer them a way out, it’s not often that easy for them to understand that it is, in fact, a way out.” She paused before adding, “We are very worried about them. We know for a fact that they will not be safe. I’ve mentioned this before. When you do break a contract as an athlete in Iran, you can face the death penalty. So, I know these women are young. I know that they are making an incredibly difficult decision, and I have the utmost respect for them.”

“Coercion is being used here, intimidation tactics,” Kordrostami stressed. “And we even had an individual amongst the girls within Sydney and Brisbane who was influencing them constantly in their ear, letting them know that whatever Australia is offering them, it will not work.” Asked if the players are being threatened, she answered unequivocally, “I don’t think that, I know that.”

I suspect part of the problem is that Australia's leftists allow coercers and other agents to dwell in the country, but that's a rather moot point. It's practically why the war against Iran has to be carried out and won, and the IRGC must be destroyed along with other dark enforcement systems they have.