Some Iranian soccer players granted asylum by Australia chose to return home, local official says
Three of the six Iranian women’s soccer players who accepted asylum in Australia are returning to Iran, according to Tina Kordrostami, a councilor for the Australian City of Ryde.
Kordrostami told Fox News Channel’s “Fox Report With Jon Scott” Saturday that the three players are returning, calling it an “upsetting update,” but she could not discuss exact reasons why.
“They are heavily intimidated and being communicated to directly by the regime,” Kordrostami said.
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When asked if the players are being threatened, Kordrostami said, “I don’t think that, I know that.
“I know families have even been detained. I know family members are missing. One thing I really would like for 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. They are more so used to relying on one another and this is survival for them.”
Kordrostami added that the women who return face potential severe consequences.
“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,” she said.
“Coercion is being used here, intimidation tactics. 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.
The team arrived in Australia before Israel and the U.S. launched a joint offensive against Iran Feb. 28. The strikes led to the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
IRANIAN WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM REFUSES TO SING NATIONAL ANTHEM IN SILENT PROTEST AT ASIAN CUP
Iranian players refused to sing their national anthem before an opening loss to South Korea March 2, which was viewed by some as an act of resistance described by an Iranian commentator as the “pinnacle of dishonor.”
Australian Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke announced at a news conference Tuesday that another Iranian women’s soccer player and a team staffer had accepted asylum in Australia amid fear of punishment upon returning to Iran after five players accepted asylum on Sunday.
Burke added that almost all the Iranian players and many of the support staff were taken aside individually as they passed through Australian Customs at an airport before they boarded their flight back to Iran.
And they were each given the opportunity to accept an asylum offer without Iranian state officials present, but other players or staff accepted the offer to stay.
The asylum bids came amid increased pressure from President Donald Trump and Iranian groups in Australia.
“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump later wrote, “I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team.
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“He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way. Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return. In any event, the Prime Minister is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation. God bless Australia!”
Iran head coach Marziyeh Jafari was quoted as saying on Australia’s national news agency that the team wants “to come back to Iran as soon as we can.”
Bill Maher presses Gov Josh Shapiro on Iran war, asks if ‘you would still do nothing?’
Comedian Bill Maher pressed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Friday over his opposition to U.S. involvement in Iran, challenging the Democrat on what he would do if he were commander in chief and had learned Iran would soon have nuclear weapons.
“Our chief negotiator said they were talking to Iran up until the war started. He said their opening salvo at the negotiations, ‘We’re a couple of weeks away from having 11 bombs,’” Maher said during the latest installment of “Real Time.”
“If you were the president, and you got that information, you would still do nothing?”
Shapiro quickly rejected the notion.
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“No. What I would do and what the president of the United States failed to do was be clear with the American people about what the hell we were doing here,” he said.
“Was the plan to go after the nuclear weapons? The weapons, by the way, he said were destroyed … seven months ago. Was the plan to go and do regime change? In which case, who the hell is going to take over? I don’t think the son [Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei] is any better than the father. Was the plan to go in there later, but you got forced because Netanyahu forced your hand?
“I think if you don’t have clarity about why you’re going in, you have no way of knowing how the hell to get out.”
PENTAGON POLICY CHIEF GRILLED AS DEM CLAIMS TRUMP BROKE PROMISE ABOUT GOING TO WAR WITH IRAN
Maher also pushed back on the Pennsylvania Democrat’s suggestion that the rationale for the war remains unclear.
“We’ve lost 13 American soldiers in a war that the American people and, by the way, most of the global community, has no idea why the hell we went there in the first place,” Shapiro said.
“I think people have an idea,” Maher countered.
FETTERMAN CONDEMNS DEMOCRATS FOR REFUSING TO PUT ‘COUNTRY OVER PARTY’ ON IRAN STRIKES
“What was the reason we went in?” Shapiro asked.
“Everything you said — the nukes, regime change and just to reshuffle the deck in the Middle East. Nothing ever really was going to get better until that regime went away,” Maher replied, prompting chuckles from the audience.
“But we’ll see what happens.”
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Shapiro noted that he was morally opposed to the Iranian regime’s actions that placed Americans in harm’s way, stating that he never viewed the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “good person” and that he is “not shedding a tear” for regime members who were killed.
“[The ayatollah] chanted, for five decades, ‘Death to America.’ These are people who blew up and killed Americans. These are not good people,” he said.
“What I am saying, though, is, if you are the commander in chief, you have a responsibility to the people you send into harm’s way, a responsibility to the American people to explain why it is you’re doing what you’re doing and how the hell you get out of it once the mission is accomplished.
“The president has yet to look the American people in the eye and explain that, and that is a failure of leadership.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Shapiro’s statements but did not immediately hear back.
Transactional partners: How 200-year distrust shapes Russia’s response to the Iran conflict
In March 2026, as the smoke cleared over Tehran after the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran’s leadership, Russia’s response was strikingly restrained. Despite a 20-year strategic partnership treaty signed with Tehran just last year, Moscow limited its reaction to condemnation and calls for diplomacy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russia had received no request from Iran for military assistance.
“There were no requests from Iran in this case,” Peskov told reporters March 5.
For analysts who study the relationship between Moscow and Tehran, the moment felt familiar.
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“The relationship has always been transactional,” said Ksenia Svetlova, executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economy and Security (ROPES) and an associate fellow at Chatham House. “Russia does what serves its own interests.”
While Iran and Russia have moved closer in recent years — particularly after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — experts say the partnership has never resembled a true alliance. Instead, they say, it reflects a long history of cooperation shaped by convenience, rivalry and shifting geopolitical needs.
The shadow of Turkmenchay
The uneasy relationship between the two powers stretches back nearly two centuries. In 1828, the Treaty of Turkmenchay forced Persia to cede large parts of the Caucasus to the Russian Empire after a military defeat. The treaty remains one of the most painful symbols of foreign domination in Iranian political memory.
In the 20th century, Russia’s relationship with Iran shifted dramatically. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Moscow maintained relatively stable ties with Iran under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
“It actually had good relations with the Shah who visited Moscow after World War II,” Svetlova said.
“But Communist Russia was very suspicious of Islamist Iran after the 1979 revolution,” said Svetlova.
It was a mutual distrust. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini denounced both Cold War superpowers, calling the United States the “Great Satan” and the Soviet Union the “Lesser Satan.”
Even during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, the Soviet Union maintained ties with Tehran while simultaneously supplying weapons to Iraq.
“The Soviet Union was very suspicious of Islamist Iran,” Svetlova said. “Even after the revolution, the relationship could not really be considered an alliance.”
AS UKRAINE WAR DRAGS ON, TRUMP HITS PUTIN BY SQUEEZING RUSSIA’S PROXIES
The drone marriage
In recent years, however, geopolitical pressures pushed the two countries closer together. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 created new military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.
Though Russia and Iran have not shared a land border since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, they remain “neighbors” via the Caspian Sea. This “blue border” became a vital artery in 2022 when Iran supplied the Shahed-series drones used in Ukraine that Russia has used extensively in attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward, a retired Navy SEAL and former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, said the partnership has had direct consequences on the battlefield.
“Sadly, the world is just now getting a taste of Iranian drones. But there’s one group that already knows them well, the Christians in Ukraine,” Harward said.
“Close to 600 Ukrainian churches have been destroyed by Russian attacks, including from the Iranian Shahed drones.”
Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and a former deputy assistant secretary of state, argued that Russia’s continued use of Iranian drones against Ukrainian targets underscores the depth of the military relationship while its calls for restraint in the current conflict highlight a fundamental contradiction.
“If Russia were serious about peace, we would see a ceasefire with Ukraine months ago,” she said. “Yet, Putin continues to attack Ukrainian cities, churches and civilians with Iranian drones day after day.”
And yet Russia’s dependence on Iranian drones during the early stages of the Ukraine war has also diminished as Moscow built its own production capacity. A report cited by The Washington Post found that Russia has “transitioned from importing Iranian Shahed drones to mass-manufacturing them” under the name Geran-2.
Limits and intelligence
War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that Russia “should not be involved” in the escalating conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran amid reports Russia has provided information that could help Iran identify U.S. military assets in the Middle East. Moscow has not publicly confirmed the claims.
“I believe Russia is providing Iran intelligence to more effectively target Americans, our allies and partners in the CENTCOM region,” said Lt. Gen. Richard Y. Newton III, a retired Air Force officer who served as assistant vice chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. “It’s absolutely clear Russia is not our friend.
IRAN LAUNCHES SATELLITES ON RUSSIAN ROCKETS AS MOSCOW-TEHRAN TIES DEEPEN
“They are doing for the Iranians without spending money, spending troops or spending equipment,” Svetlova added. “They share knowledge. They supplied the Iranians with a target list, basically, through their satellites — American targets, but also air targets in the Gulf and Iraq.”
Harward argued that confronting this growing cooperation requires a broader strategy.
“If we want to break the threat of the increasingly dangerous Russian-Iranian alliance, we need to fully decimate Iran’s capabilities to threaten our allies and the United States, and we need to continue to support Ukraine and get Europeans to do their part,” he said.
Filipetti remains skeptical of Moscow’s role as a mediator.
“The idea that Russia would call on the U.S. and Israel to cease military operations against the regime in Iran and suggest that we should negotiate is absurd,” Filipetti said.
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Although Russia is falling short of helping Iran in a straightforward military way, experts say the cooperation in the world of intelligence has been profound.
Ultimately, Newton argued that Russia’s actions should be viewed through the lens of President Vladimir Putin’s broader geopolitical goals.
“Putin only does what serves Putin, and right now escalating the war in the Middle East and driving up oil prices only serves his interests so he can continue to fund his war machine against Ukraine,” he said.
US offers $10M reward for info on Iran’s new supreme leader, top IRGC officials
The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information on Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and several senior officials linked to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Officials said the reward, part of the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program, is an effort to gather intelligence on the IRGC and its leadership, which Washington accuses of orchestrating attacks against Americans and supporting terrorism.
The reward targets Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several key figures inside Iran’s ruling security apparatus.
The department said it is also seeking information about Ali Asghar Hejazi, deputy chief of staff for the Supreme Leader’s Office, and Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
ISRAEL HAMMERS IRANIAN INTERNAL SECURITY COMMAND CENTERS TO OPEN DOOR TO UPRISING
The program also lists several senior figures linked to Iran’s security and intelligence structure, including Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military adviser to the supreme leader, Esmail Khatib, Iran’s minister of intelligence, and Eskandar Momeni, the country’s interior minister.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), part of Iran’s official military, plays a central role in Iran’s use of terrorism as a key tool of Iranian statecraft,” the State Department said.
“In addition, the IRGC has created, supported, and directed other terrorist groups. The IRGC is responsible for numerous attacks targeting Americans and U.S. facilities, including those that have killed U.S. citizens,” the department added.
LETHAL ELITE ‘BLACK-CLAD’ KILL SQUAD GUARDS IRAN’S NEW SUPREME LEADER MOJTABA KHAMENEI
The agency said the IRGC has also expanded its influence far beyond military operations since its founding after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, becoming deeply embedded in the country’s political and economic system.
“Since its founding in 1979, the IRGC has gained a substantial role in executing Iran’s foreign policy,” the department said. “The group now wields control over vast segments of Iran’s economy and is influential in Iranian domestic politics.”
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The Rewards for Justice program allows the U.S. government to offer financial rewards for information that helps disrupt terrorist networks or identify individuals involved in attacks against Americans.
The State Department said individuals who provide credible information may be eligible for rewards of up to $10 million.
Iran using AI to control global narrative as regime can’t win on the battlefield, former security chief warns
The Iranian regime is using artificial intelligence to generate a false “global narrative” that it is winning the war with the U.S., Bridget Bean, the former acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), told Fox News Friday.
“They can’t win on the battlefield, so they’re going to try and win through AI and through a global narrative,” Bean said on “The Ingraham Angle.”
“And their old playbook was very discernible – funny faces or out-of-time lip sync – but they’ve gotten very good on some of their AI manipulation. And we’ve seen that.”
BRETT VELICOVICH: IRAN BUILT A DRONE TERROR MACHINE — AMERICA JUST HACKED IT
Bean said those scrolling quickly on their phones might not notice that something is off about the regime’s AI-generated content and urged people to be “careful about what’s happening.”
“Their goal is to weaken our will, our resolve and to really push a narrative that is not true,” she added.
PARENTS HONOR FALLEN ARMY CAPTAIN WITH ‘GIVING SOUL’ AFTER DEADLY IRANIAN STRIKE KILLS SIX
The New York Post reported Thursday that Iran published AI-altered images of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, after reports he is too injured to make a public appearance.
Shayan Sardarizadeh, a senior journalist at BBC Verify, told the Post photos recently published by Iranian state media and on Khamenei’s X account had been edited using online AI tools.
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Bean said the regime is “taking real pictures, real videos and adding just a touch of AI” so that it “passes the gut test.”
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“What we’re seeing is not surprising. They have played this exact same playbook since June of 2025. During the 12-day war, they did this, and it really was the first time for a global conflict where we saw AI-generated disinformation outpace traditional propaganda.”
Trump says US ‘obliterated’ military targets in strike on key Iranian oil hub: ‘Powerful bombing raids’
President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. had carried out a bombing raid on Iran’s Kharg Island, a strategically vital island in the Persian Gulf that serves as the country’s largest oil terminal and a crucial hub for its crude exports.
“Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The island, located roughly 35 miles off Iran’s Bushehr province in the country’s southwest, is about the size of New York City’s Central Park but carries huge importance for Iran’s economy.
It has a loading capacity of about 7 million barrels per day, and roughly 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports pass through it. Most of those exports are shipped to China and India, underscoring the island’s importance not only to Iran’s energy trade but also to broader global oil markets.
BEFORE-AND-AFTER SATELLITE IMAGERY OFFERS A RARE LOOK AT DAMAGE INSIDE IRAN
That makes Kharg Island one of Iran’s most sensitive and strategically important pieces of infrastructure. Any military action there could have consequences well beyond Iran, raising the risk of disruptions to crude flows, shipping traffic and energy prices across the region.
Trump said the U.S. had deliberately avoided targeting the island’s oil infrastructure, while warning that could change if Iran moved to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Our Weapons are the most powerful and sophisticated that the World has ever known but, for reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision,” Trump added.
THE UNLIKELY TOOL TRUMP IS EYEING TO TACKLE RISING OIL PRICES AMID THE IRAN CONFLICT
The latest revelation comes as the widening conflict in the Middle East rattles global energy markets and raises fresh fears about the security of the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil choke point.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage between Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, carries roughly 20 million barrels of oil a day and about one-fifth of the global supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG). When conflict flares in the region, even the threat of disruption can rattle markets because so much of the world’s energy moves through that single corridor.
That threat is already rippling through energy markets.
This week, benchmark oil prices punched back above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022, underscoring how quickly geopolitical shocks can ripple through the energy complex.
That jump is showing up at the pump. As oil prices climb, gasoline and diesel prices are rising fast — especially diesel, which can move quickly because it’s tied closely to freight and industrial demand.
On Friday, the national average for regular gasoline rose to about $3.63 a gallon, according to AAA. Diesel prices have also jumped, with the national average up $1.23 to $4.89 a gallon.
As energy costs accelerate, the White House is weighing steps to safeguard commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and leaning on emergency stockpiles to cushion the blow.
Before boarding Air Force One for Mar-a-Lago late Friday, Trump told reporters the U.S. Navy may start escorting tankers through the Strait “very soon.”
Asked about the risk of disruptions, Trump said Monday evening he would keep the route open and threatened retaliation if Iran tried to interfere.
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“I will not allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and attempt to stop the globe’s oil supply. And if Iran does anything to do that, they’ll get hit at a much, much harder level,” Trump said during a news conference in Florida.
“In the long run, oil supplies will be dramatically more secure without the threat of Iranian ships, drones, missiles,” he added.