US soccer nice, two-time World Cup winner and former Ballon d’Or Féminin recipient Megan Rapinoe is being accused of hypocrisy for her silence on the Iranian ladies’s crew.
5 members of Iran’s 2026 Ladies’s Asian Cup squad have been lately granted asylum by the event’s host nation, Australia, amid joint US-Israeli strikes on the Center Jap nation.
Earlier within the event, Staff Iran was seen forgoing the nation’s nationwide anthem earlier than a sport in opposition to South Korea, prompting state tv to label the ladies ‘wartime traitors.’ So when Staff Iran was in the end eradicated, Australian officers provided asylum to anybody who feared retribution again residence.
However whereas Rapinoe has been an outspoken advocate for girls across the globe, she’s been conspicuously silent on the plight of Staff Iran, in line with British TV host Piers Morgan.
‘The silence over this from Rapinoe, and so many supposed “feminists” like her, is so telling, damning, and hypocritical,’ Morgan wrote on X.
Morgan then made a reference to Rapinoe’s assist for trans athletes in ladies’s sports activities.
An undated picture launched by Australia’s Division of Residence Affairs on March 11, 2026 exhibits six Iranian soccer gamers and a crew official with two unidentified native officers (2nd and third R) in Sydney, after they claimed asylum in Australia. One participant did change her thoughts
US soccer nice, two-time World Cup winner and former Ballon d’Or Féminin recipient Megan Rapinoe is being accused of hypocrisy for her silence on the Iranian ladies’s crew
Whereas Rapinoe has been an outspoken advocate for girls across the globe, she’s been conspicuously silent on the plight of Staff Iran, in line with Piers Morgan (pictured)
‘They’d moderately marketing campaign for organic males to wreck ladies’s sport than marketing campaign for these heroic younger sportswomen to assist save their lives,’ Morgan added.
The 60-year-old broadcaster was responding to a New York Submit column – a chunk that chastised Rapinoe’s criticism of Staff USA males’s hockey gamers who laughed at Donald Trump’s dismissive joke about their ladies counterparts.
‘America’ males’s hockey crew of their utter second of glory, childhood goals come true, once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment, sensational – ruined it for themselves as a result of they allowed themselves to be completely co-opted by a clown,’ the 40-year-old Rapinoe lately stated on her podcast. ‘And now, you are a clown. You appear like a clown.’
The 5 Iranian gamers who have been granted asylum by Australia are actually protected after having their location revealed by one other member of their delegation, in line with officers.
On Tuesday, Australian Residence Affairs Minister Tony Burke instructed parliament that 21-year-old striker Mohaddeseh Zolfi and assist staffer Zahra Soltan Moshkehkar had accepted the federal government’s provide of asylum after 5 others did so a day earlier. However with out specifying whether or not it was Zolfi or Moshkehkar who had second ideas, Burke has since revealed one of many two modified their thoughts and referred to as the Iranian embassy ‘to get collected.’
That decision led Iranian handlers to study the place the defectors have been staying, prompting Australian officers to rapidly relocate the asylum seekers.
‘I instantly gave the instruction for individuals to be moved, and that is been handled instantly,’ Burke stated.
Iran gamers pose for a crew picture forward of the Ladies’s Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia
Burke poses in an undisclosed location with 5 Iranian ladies soccer gamers who’ve been granted asylum in Australia. The ladies have been moved after their location was leaked
Australia’s Residence Affairs Minister Tony Burke poses with Iranian ladies’s soccer crew assist employee Zahra Soltan Meshkeh Kar and crew participant Mohaddeseh Zolfi, who have been granted asylum on Tuesday. Since then, one of many two ladies modified her thoughts, in line with Burke
Burke additionally burdened that the one who determined to return to Iran was given each alternative to stay in Australia: ‘This was her choice, and each query you’d need requested, was requested.’
As for the ladies who’re staying in Australia, Burke stated they are going to be fast-tracked to everlasting residency.
Burke has recognized these 5 gamers as: Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi.
‘They need to be clear they don’t seem to be political activists. They’re athletes who need to be protected,’ Burke stated.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed their state of affairs on Tuesday, calling the 5 gamers ‘courageous ladies’ and promising ‘they’re protected right here and they need to really feel at residence right here.’
In the meantime, Iran has introduced it won’t participate on this summer time’s World Cup in North America.
When requested about Iran’s participation on the World Cup by Politico final week, US President Trump replied: ‘I actually do not care.’
