Iranian female soccer players have been filmed looking scared and glum-faced as they return home after a scandal over claiming asylum in Australia.
Video shared on X by a pro-regime account shows the players, all wearing team tracksuits and Islamic hijab headcoverings, walking between two lines of people waving the green, white, and red Iranian flag.
The players, each accompanied by a little girl, looked nervous as they walked along the line in the video filmed in the northwest Iranian city of Bazargan, which is accompanied by music.
Further video shared by the same account shows scenes from the previous night, when the players were greeted by cheering supporters of the Iranian regime at the border town of Bazargan, some four hours’ drive northwest, after crossing back into Iran from Turkey.
It is the latest stage in a weeks-long saga involving Iran’s women’s soccer team, which started when several players failed to sing the Iranian national anthem at a women’s Asian Cup match earlier this month following the start of Operation Epic Fury.
They were labeled “wartime traitors” by Iranian state television, and six players and a support staff member sought asylum in Australia.
They were granted humanitarian visas, before five members suddenly withdrew their asylum claims, amid fears of threats to their loved ones.
The players then rejoined the rest of the squad at their training camp in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, before flying to Istanbul on Tuesday.
They then took a second flight to Igdir in eastern Turkey on Wednesday morning, before crossing back into Iran.
Iran’s soccer authorities said last week that the players who had withdrawn their asylum claims would “once again be embraced by their families and homeland.”
Two of the claimants are still in Australia, where they have been pictured training with a local soccer team.
