Iran promised there would be no punishment. Then, this weekend, the government seized Zahra Ghanbari's bank accounts, property, and everything in between.
The captain of the Iranian women's national team was named on a list of 400 'supporters of the enemy' published by the Islamic Republic, making her one of several prominent athletes, actors, and media figures set to have their assets stripped — bank accounts frozen, homes potentially evicted and auctioned off or handed to the regime.
What actually happened in Australia
The sequence of events matters here. Iran's women's team travelled to Australia for the Asia Cup in late February, arriving just before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei. On March 2, the squad stood in silence as the national anthem played before their match against South Korea. Iranian state press immediately branded them 'wartime traitors.'
Australia offered the full squad asylum. Ghanbari and six teammates initially accepted humanitarian visas. Then reports emerged that threats had been made against players' families still inside Iran. One by one, most of them went back. Ghanbari's return was framed by Iranian authorities as a patriotic act, and the international community was explicitly assured no one would face consequences.
That assurance is now worthless.
Only two players remain in Australia — Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, both of whom have since linked up with Brisbane Roar. Their decision to stay looks more justified with every development.
The wider crackdown
Ghanbari's inclusion on the list sits alongside footballer Mohammad Ali Karimi, actor Hamid Farokhnezhad, and several high-profile singers and TV personalities. The primary targets, though, are Iranians connected to Persian-language news outlets Iran International and Manoto — both based outside Iran, both heavily watched, and both prominent in covering the 2023 'Woman, Life, Freedom' protests.
Iran has accused Iran International of links to Israel, a claim the outlet's owner, London-based Volant Media, flatly rejects. The broadcaster holds a legitimate UK licence through Global Media. The accusation appears designed to justify the crackdown under laws framing cooperation with 'hostile countries' as espionage.
For Ghanbari, the practical consequences are immediate: assets seized, property at risk of repossession, and her name attached to a list that carries serious legal weight inside Iran. She returned home on the regime's assurances. Those assurances have now been broken in the most public way possible.
