"Our Families Are Being Held Hostage”: Women’s National Team Goalkeeper Speaks Out

March 9, 2026

Iran’s Women’s National Team faces pressure to return home as players say their families in Iran are being held “hostage”.

An Iranian living in Australia shared a screenshot of a private exchange with Zahra Khajavi, the goalkeeper of Iran’s Women’s National Football Team, suggesting that the players remain in Australia instead of returning home. In response, Khajavi said the team cannot stay because their families in Iran are being held “hostage.”

In recent days, IranWire, citing informed sources within the Ministry of Sport, reported that the Women’s National Team players were being threatened by the IRGC (Revolutionary Guard) with the hostage-taking of their families.

For readers outside Iran, Zahra Khajavi is one of the most recognized names in Iranian sports. She once set the record for the longest clean sheet in Iranian football, surpassing even male players. The Women’s National Team was in Australia for the Asian Cup when the 2026 war erupted. Within the framework of the Islamic Republic, the “hostage-taking” of family members is a well-known tactic of transnational repression, designed to prevent prominent figures abroad from defecting or speaking out against the regime.

On the evening of Monday, March 8, members of the Iranian community in Australia gathered to show support for the Women’s National Team as they prepared to return to Iran. At one point, a group of Iranian-Australians repeatedly tried to block the team’s bus, hoping to stop the players from going back.

During this tournament, which took place amid the war in Iran, the Iranian Women’s National Team initially refused to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic but was later forced to perform a “military salute” under threats.

Refusing to sing the anthem is a symbolic act of solidarity with the protest movements in Iran. The forced “military salute” was the regime’s way of demonstrating control over the athletes during a time of war, framing them as soldiers of the state rather than independent competitors.

Now, as stated by the national team’s goalkeeper and confirmed by IranWire, their families are being held hostage by the IRGC Intelligence security agency.

Reports indicate that as the war between the U.S./Israel and Iran enters its second week, security pressures and threats targeting ordinary citizens and prominent figures inside Iran have become broader and more severe.