ListNook

NeuroticDream Mar 15, 2026 +297

I feel for them but....how did they not think it through that their families would be taken away and used as blackmail?? It's unbelievable how short sighted this whole thing was.

297

Major_Pomegranate Mar 15, 2026 +79

Could have been holding out to see what would happen to the regime. US and Israel going to be knocking off leaders and upping the stakes until the regime collapses? Yeah maybe a good idea to sit on the sidelines and wait to see how things play out. But now it seems pretty apparant the goal's to just find some way out of this mess rather than keep scaling up, so it's not worth putting family/loved ones at risk

79

SilvyValeMead Mar 15, 2026 +232

A taste of freedom can be intoxicating.

232

Greensentry Mar 15, 2026 +28

They are very young and hadn’t considered all the consequences.

28

Phenomenomix Mar 17, 2026

Very young? I think the average age of the players who sought asylum was 30. Old enough to know what the reaction back home is likely to be.

0

barf_seller Mar 15, 2026 +81

They must have been terrified. And still are. Very sad. Regime needs to go.

81

LiveChocolate8819 Mar 16, 2026 -17

Regime needs to go, but not at the hands of the Epstein mafia

-17

barf_seller Mar 16, 2026 -29

Epstein died bro, I think you're in the wrong thread

-29

JetFuel12 Mar 16, 2026 +12

Yeah it’s just unbelievable how these desperate people reacted. Get off your high horse, t***.

12

Diligent_Musician851 Mar 17, 2026 +1

That's some pro-level victim blaming.

1

MayaHendrix Mar 16, 2026 -5

Where’s the evidence that their family being blackmailed? Do you know Iran is currently at war?

-5

Iron_Wolf123 Mar 15, 2026 -20

Wouldn’t the Iranian government understand why they are in Australia; to be safe from the Iranian war? Who in their right mind would want to go home during a war? It’s like walking into a shredder knowing the risks.

-20

LloydDoyley Mar 16, 2026 -6

Footballers are rarely the brightest bunch

-6

badpersian Mar 15, 2026 -75

I think reality hit them that they're being used as political tools and once the war was over, they'd be thrown to the wayside to find jobs in pizza shops.

-75

mighij Mar 15, 2026 +50

You know nothing about Iranian women nor people who compete at the top level in a sport.

50

badpersian Mar 15, 2026 -80

And a moron like you would know who I know I don't know, how exactly???

-80

mighij Mar 15, 2026 +37

Try rewriting the sentence to start making sense.

37

tea_snob10 Mar 16, 2026 +3

Username checks out.

3

-Shenanigans Mar 16, 2026 -19

Christ, you people are delusional

-19

2harveza Mar 16, 2026 -16

This whole prop campaign is so mind numbingingly pathetic I don’t even want to engage with it. Are people really this dumb ?

-16

-Shenanigans Mar 16, 2026 -18

It’s just disgusting western chauvinism. These people cannot comprehend that Iran is its own sovereign state whose ideologies differ from theirs.

-18

MayaHendrix Mar 16, 2026 -9

It’s ridiculous, there’s literally zero evidence for their nonsensical claims. Iran is literally fighting a war for survival, who even has time to be harassing a family because someone claimed asylum. Millions of people claim asylum every year. People will believe what they want to believe.

-9

syynapt1k Mar 16, 2026 +4

There has been reporting that the Iranian regime has threatened the families of the football players that said they would seek humanitarian asylum. That is why they are recanting and returning home. You can Google it yourself if you don't believe internet strangers.

4

MayaHendrix Mar 16, 2026 -2

Tabloid sources are not evidence. First understand that this story has become highly politicized so people will often do this thing called lying. Secondly, why didn’t the two who remained in Australia return? Are they just cool with their family being tortured? It’s ridiculous really. I visit Iran almost every year, yes it has its issues but it’s not the place so many have been brainwashed to think it is. Don’t believe everything you read.

-2

syynapt1k Mar 16, 2026 +1

They literally just killed tens of thousands of their own people, and here you are giving them the benefit of the doubt. What has been reported is more than likely accurate.

1

-Shenanigans Mar 16, 2026 +1

There is no proof of 30,000 that gets parroted by zionists. The IRCG has shared a list of all of the protestors that they’ve killed. If that number was higher then it would be very easy to prove it.

1

Meta2048 Mar 15, 2026 +652

All the players who wanted to defect were told that their families/relatives would be tortured and killed if they didn't return. Can't really blame them for going back, although I doubt they're going to get a warm welcome. Wouldn't be surprised if they were disappeared shortly after returning.

652

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 +286

[deleted]

286

GetsBetterAfterAFew Mar 15, 2026 -210

Proof please.

-210

ALostPaperBag Mar 15, 2026 +89

Just look at the hundreds of thousands they’ve killed for speaking against the regime since they came to power, that’s your proof

89

beorn961 Mar 15, 2026 -106

Sure it isn't millions? Maybe tens of millions?

-106

JohnnyOnslaught Mar 15, 2026 +55

Considering their own ministry of health estimated up to 30,000 deaths in the last couple of months, I don't think hundreds of thousands over fifty years is much of a reach but hey, be an apologist for the regime if you want.

55

[deleted] Mar 16, 2026 -32

[removed]

-32

ALostPaperBag Mar 16, 2026 +16

3K is what the Iranian government itself admit they killed which alone is an insane number. Human rights groups have VERIFIED 7K people killed by photo evidence, but since the internet was shut off before they started the killings and they won’t take pictures of those they captured they killed the estimate is higher around 30k

16

premature_eulogy Mar 16, 2026 +7

Even if it's around 3k in the latest protests (it's not), we're talking about the total death toll of nearly five decades of Ayatollah rule here.

7

MesmariPanda Mar 16, 2026 -12

Just fyi.....Based on recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of deaths registered in England and Wales typically ranges between 40,000 and 50,000 per month.

-12

piffcty Mar 16, 2026 -64

You mean the people using Israeli weapons to attack police stations?

-64

ALostPaperBag Mar 16, 2026 +18

Wow Israel sure has a lot of agents, insane that millions of protestors in Iran were all Israeli agents!

18

piffcty Mar 16, 2026 -21

Just pulling random numbers out of your ass to justify America bombing schools and Israel bombing hospitals

-21

ALostPaperBag Mar 16, 2026 +7

Besides the school that was hit day 1 there have been no other schools hit, unless u know something we don’t?

7

GermanPayroll Mar 16, 2026 +25

Those 30,000 people had it coming - this guy, apparently

25

piffcty Mar 16, 2026 +1

[ Removed by Reddit ]

1

Miserable-Savings751 Mar 16, 2026 +3

Disgusting terrorist simp.

3

piffcty Mar 16, 2026 -2

Says the guy cheerleading blowing up schools and hospitals

-2

Miserable-Savings751 Mar 16, 2026 +3

You should tell your irgc people to stop that. Same with doing mass chemical attacks on women schools because they protesting against wearing the mandatory hijab

3

PaperDistribution Mar 15, 2026 +40

We get it, you only hate child f****** human rights abusers if they are american or, I assume, just in the west. Keep gurgling the cum of the Iranian government.

40

Doctor_Box Mar 16, 2026 +17

What is your explanation for them claiming asylum then recanting?

17

Piggywonkle Mar 16, 2026 +6

No media freedom, no benefit of the doubt for you.

6

Starbreaker99 Mar 16, 2026 +4

You are naive bro

4

Hilldawg4president Mar 15, 2026 -9

I'd like to see evidence too. I mean, I *assume* that's exactly what's happening, but do we not even have a confidential Source saying that?

-9

martapap Mar 15, 2026 +62

It just means they and their families will be tortured and killed together.

62

goldenfiver Mar 16, 2026 +11

Strangely was not mentioned at the oscars… I wonder why.

11

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 +10

[removed]

10

Few_Relative_6812 Mar 16, 2026 +28

It's happened all of the time. Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel peace prize and then they captured her sister. The women literally took off their hijab right away when they were granted asylum. The regime announced nationally on a news broadcast that they would be punished if they didn't sing the national anthem again

28

PandaAintFood Mar 16, 2026

This is a dishonest retelling of the events. Shirin Ebadi were awarded the Nobel prize in 2003. Her sister were arrested in 2009, 6 years later. You're presenting it as if she's arrested as a response to the Nobel prize. Also she was detained for a couple weeks and then released. This narrative especially doesn't hold when the media currently is filled with Pahlavi supporting Iranians to cheerlead the war in support of Trump while their entire family are still in Tehran. Why are their family still unharmed when they activelly encourage the US to bomb Iran? You keep hearing them saying "my family back in Tehran are dancing seeing the bombs drop", that doesn't sound consistent with your conspiracy, they should be in jail according to you.

0

MattHakor Mar 16, 2026 +17

Funny rhetorical question

17

Cheesyduck81 Mar 16, 2026

All I’ve read is comments suspecting that but nothing confirmed. Where’s your source?

0

-Shenanigans Mar 16, 2026 -4

Source: pulled it out of my ass

-4

GetsBetterAfterAFew Mar 15, 2026 -30

Proof please?

-30

Informal-String6064 Mar 16, 2026 -12

No way my guy is getting downvoted for asking for proof 😭 Most CIA/Mossad slopped thread ever

-12

ConcentratedJolly Mar 16, 2026 -6

Is there a source for this?

-6

[deleted] Mar 16, 2026 -33

[removed]

-33

Meta2048 Mar 16, 2026 +30

It's literally in the article. Maybe you should try reading. Moron.

30

fatbp Mar 16, 2026 -22

Everything in that article is speculation, no proof. Dumbass.

-22

Meta2048 Mar 16, 2026 +24

> Human rights activists have said the women may have been pressured to reverse their decisions through threats against their families. > Shiva Amini, an exiled former Iranian national futsal player, said she had received information Iran's Football Federation, working with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), had "placed intense and systemic pressure on the players' families in Iran". You think Iran is going to release a statement saying that they will kill players families if they don't return?

24

fatbp Mar 16, 2026 -35

Stop bring distracted by these speculative fake news and start paying attention to real murders of innocents being committed by the Israeli forces. Talk about the real issues that can be verified by facts. Stop being a mindless sheep. Human rights your ass

-35

Meta2048 Mar 16, 2026 +32

What does Israel have to do with Iranian football players seeking asylum? You're trying to deflect (poorly) because you now realize you've taken the wrong position. Put another way, what would you consider to be sufficient proof that a despotic Iranian regime, with a history of human rights abuses, which recently killed thousands, if not tens of thousands of protestors... What would be sufficient proof for you to believe that they likely threatened the lives of prominent football players families when they said they wanted to defect? See how stupid and ridiculous your position is?

32

badpersian Mar 15, 2026 -99

Source of these threats? Last we saw was they were welcomed back publicly...

-99

pgtl_10 Mar 15, 2026 +24

Probably propaganda outlet

24

kugelamarant Mar 15, 2026 -28

source for the 30000 protestor killed as well..

-28

FriendsWithAPopstar Mar 16, 2026 -17

Iran killed 30,000 in 2 days with machine guns, but Israel has only killed 40,000 in 2 years of carpet combing, sniper fire, white phosphorus, etc etc Hmmm something isn’t adding up

-17

kugelamarant Mar 16, 2026 -13

It's like the regime have camps and gas chamber for them to be that efficient.

-13

Alarming-Ad1100 Mar 15, 2026 -59

Lmao do you have a single source for this information?? This just appears to be a propagandistic lie to get people to fear and hate Iran

-59

Future_Sundae7843 Mar 16, 2026 +15

yall are so sillly and we can tell you're a 20 year old who knows nothing but reading tweets

15

JohnWickedlyFat Mar 15, 2026 +16

Knowing the IRGC they probably have the picnic and baskets ready

16

RedTulkas Mar 15, 2026 -54

They might get lucky cause Iran might want to project unity internally One can at least hope

-54

gdogbaba Mar 15, 2026 +31

Lmao good one

31

ventitr3 Mar 15, 2026 +31

You talking about the regime that killed thousands of protestors publicly? Nobody is going to believe any “unity” they’re trying to sell.

31

RedTulkas Mar 16, 2026 -2

That was before their capital got covered in toxic fumes Some might believe it

-2

ventitr3 Mar 16, 2026 +2

Those “some” are probably not the ones celebrating their leaders being taken out.

2

SoloWingPixy88 Mar 16, 2026 -22

This isn't a new story and often happens. I'm surprised they were so naive to even risk it.

-22

pretzelday666 Mar 15, 2026 +222

There is going to be a lot of FIFA players claiming asylum in Canada in June......

222

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 +77

[removed]

77

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 +74

[deleted]

74

CMurra87 Mar 16, 2026 +15

Sorry. “EA FC players”

15

did_i_or_didnt_i Mar 16, 2026 +4

It’s happening in Canada so they’re actually soccer players

4

ah_no_wah Mar 17, 2026 +5

Sorry, but it's called foot hockey here.

5

vinicnam1 Mar 16, 2026 -12

But it will be an accurate description for the players who are in Canada specifically for the FIFA World Cup and use that opportunity to apply for asylum.

-12

[deleted] Mar 16, 2026 +18

[deleted]

18

vinicnam1 Mar 16, 2026 -13

The FIFA website literally uses the phrase “FIFA players” and “FIFA Men’s players” all over the place.

-13

[deleted] Mar 16, 2026 +10

[deleted]

10

kingjevin Mar 15, 2026 -34

You’re def a bot

-34

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 -64

[removed]

-64

bapeandvape Mar 15, 2026 +11

Fire of all, Canadians*, I don’t think Montreal fans want to move down south. Second of all, have you looked at your government? Lol.

11

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 -12

[deleted]

-12

tjvs2001 Mar 16, 2026 +2

Aww you're cute.

2

EconomistStreet5295 Mar 15, 2026 +42

I really feel for these girls, the immense pressure they must be under. Threats to loved ones pushing them to go back into a really uncertain and most likely dangerous future. F*** this war

42

yxwvut Mar 16, 2026 +20

The same “hit their families” process happened to an Iranian rock climber a couple years ago. Came out at a competition without a hijab in protest of the mandatory hijab laws, and before you know it her family’s house was demolished and she’s issuing public statements from captivity about how it slipped off by accident and she didn’t notice it.

20

DoterPotato Mar 16, 2026 +1

You are in favor of doing nothing ever to the very government issuing said threats. You dont care. Thats fine but stop pretending that you do.

1

EconomistStreet5295 Mar 16, 2026 -1

What are you on about?

-1

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 -31

[removed]

-31

DC4L_21 Mar 16, 2026 +19

Trump doesn’t give a f*** about the US Soldiers dying in this war, you think he cares about them?

19

bass248 Mar 16, 2026 -5

Which party do you think people in the military vote for?

-5

IcyBookkeeper5315 Mar 16, 2026 +2

Trump bombed a girls school wtf are you smoking.

2

mariuszmie Mar 15, 2026 +43

It’s blatantly clear anyone related to them will be tortured/killed

43

shorty-boyd Mar 15, 2026 +30

Must be horrible knowing you are going back to be "taught a lesson"

30

PurpleSailor Mar 16, 2026 +13

Amazing how quickly your government can make you change your mind when they threaten to torture your relatives. Let's hope more governments don't pick up on this tactic.

13

ratbaby86 Mar 15, 2026 +8

So, this is the new Ayatollah in an earlier interview (prior to his parents, wife and son being killed by USrael): In a 2025 interview with a former Iranian official, Mojtaba reportedly describes himself as an extremist who believes himself to be a mythical figure in Islam. He also reportedly described himself as extremely brutal, and believed that the ends justify any means, and says he is racist towards Arabs, who make up a minority population in Iran. Mojtaba has carried on his father's campaign of terror across the Middle East, with Iran vowing today that not one litre of oil would be exported from the Gulf while its war with the United States and Israel continues, in a stark rebuke to President Donald Trump's boast that the conflict was all but over. https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/how-hardline-mojtaba-khamenei-oversaw-merciless-crackdown-that-saw-dozens-of-iranians-slaughtered/ar-AA1XTNEg

8

DancingFlame321 Mar 16, 2026 +6

How can he call himself racist against Arabs if his Prophet Muhammad was an Arab? That's bizarre

6

ChesterComics Mar 16, 2026 +13

Plenty of Christians would be racist against Jesus. Zealots tend to do all sorts of mental gymnastics with these kinds of things.

13

Swimming_Peach4011 Mar 16, 2026 -1

All while buying property in the UK worth millions 😂

-1

ruines_humaines Mar 16, 2026 -31

Sounds like the average war criminal the US elects every 4 years. The difference is that we don't know if he's a pdf yet.

-31

Xiten Mar 16, 2026 +1

Iran is gonna have a brand new team come next tournament.

1

Organic-Feedback1686 Mar 17, 2026 +1

Not for love for the regime, but fearing what would happen to their families.

1

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 -27

[deleted]

-27

mighij Mar 15, 2026 +35

Hows this embarrassing for Australia? They did their best, but they can't protect the players families from all the terrible things that might happen to them. So yeah, the girls returned and can only hope the punishment isn't too severe.

35

[deleted] Mar 15, 2026 -18

[deleted]

-18

JP76 Mar 15, 2026 +9

>it's embarrassing for the girls. No, it's not. Only embarrassments are weak-willed men who feed their fragile egos by subjugating women.

9

Manos_Of_Fate Mar 15, 2026 +8

That doesn’t even make the list of stupidest things Trump said *this week*

8

Snoo-64644 Mar 16, 2026 -2

They will be arrested and later executed upon landing

-2

LovingShiva Mar 17, 2026 +1

Were their families threatened?

1

robpottedplant Mar 16, 2026 -5

War is always bad and the reasoning is unjust shower I feel this one would serve more good than all the others recently. Iran seems to be terrible to its population from what I’ve seen.

-5

haiduy2011 Mar 16, 2026 -13

Is no one gonna question anything about how fishy this all had gone down? Like what were they told by the australian government that led a bunch of them to drop their asylum case.

-13

Ijustdoeyes Mar 16, 2026 +6

Are you serious? So you have an oppressive regime who's playbook is to threaten and coerce them back by whatever means necessary including torturing and killing their families but you think *Australia* is responsible for them changing their minds?

6

haiduy2011 Mar 16, 2026 -2

You are too eager to misunderstand. Most asylum seekers move with their entire families because of the risk of retaliation. These aren’t stupid people who can’t plan or premeditate their actions. They’re aware they’re representatives of their government in an international sports tournament. Why would they take such a risky move to defect when there’s so much publicity and risk to their own families? Do you think asylum seekers want such attention on themselves? Imagine your spouse or sibling announce on TV they’re defecting and now you have a bunch of government agents coming to you when all of this is news to you as well. I’m interested in what was told to them by the Australian government. Not really interested in the foregone conclusion of retaliation by the oppressive government.

-2

Ijustdoeyes Mar 16, 2026 -1

To think that players didn't have this discussion before they went is naive. In oppressive regimes all over the world this exact same thing plays out and the pare ta tell their children.to take the chance. These women are still in contact with home, they may have thought they could take that leap but as pressure has been put on them they have found they couldn't Who knows what they were told

-1

haiduy2011 Mar 16, 2026 +2

‘They may have thought’ ‘who knows what they were told’ i mean that’s where the questions come in right? Lol.

2

nolesfan2011 Mar 15, 2026 -18

They need to be prevented from leaving

-18

dejavuus Mar 16, 2026 +8

😂😂😂 Why you are denying them their rights? Hilarious

8

Iran captain latest footballer to drop asylum bid, Iranian state media says

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