Foreign Policy
THE ESSEX FILES: Iran’s Lionesses Show Why Tehran Fears Its Own Women
March 13, 2026
RED STATE–The footage is brief but revealing. A player from Iran’s women’s national team is taken by the wrist and steered toward the team bus in Australia as the squad prepares to leave, days after several teammates slipped away to seek asylum. What looks like a simple travel scene is, in reality, a snapshot of life under a regime that treats female athletes less as representatives of their country and more as hostages of the state.