17/03/2026

TUESDAY | MAR 17, 2026

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

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Fifth Iranian footballer chooses to return home

o Team waiting for flight connections

the players’ families had come under pressure from authorities in Iran, adding that the players had not expressed any concerns over their safety. “We have spoken to the team officials. We have spoken to the coaches, the head of delegation. They are in high spirits,” he said. “I personally met them. They are not de motivated or they didn’t look afraid.” A former player and a Persian-language TV channel based outside Iran said the players had been pressured to reverse their stance through threats against families back home. But Iranian authorities have in turn accused Australia of pressuring the players to stay. Shiva Amini, a former national futsal player who now lives in exile, wrote on X that she had heard information that Iran’s Football Federation, working with the Revolutionary Guards, “placed intense and systematic pressure on the players’ families in Iran”. Amini left Iran after a controversy involving not wearing the hijab . – Reuters/AFP

Thistlethwaite told Sky News the government respected the decision of those who chose to return to Iran while continuing to provide support to the two members still in Australia. “This is a very complex situation,” Thistlethwaite said. The team is seeking to travel to another country from Malaysia as it cannot immediately return to Tehran due to the war in the Middle East, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said yesterday. The Iranian Football Association said the team was expected to leave Malaysia for Tehran soon “to once again be embraced by their families and homeland”. AFC General Secretary Windsor John however told reporters in Kuala Lumpur the team would seek alternative destinations as they are unable to return to Iran immediately. “They are just waiting for the flight connections. When they are going ... where to, they have to tell us,” he said. He said he was unable to verify reports that

Japan steers clear of maritime ops Sanae ... no request from Trump. – AFPPIC TOKYO: Japan said yesterday it was not thinking about ordering maritime security operations, after US President Donald Trump called for other countries to send warships to help protect the Strait of Hormuz. “We are not at the moment considering issuing a maritime security operation,” Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told parliament. Trump called for reinforcements on Saturday from countries including Japan after earlier vowing that the US Navy would “very soon” begin escorting tankers through the vital shipping lane for oil in the Middle East. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that she had not received a request from Trump. “The question is what Japan should do on our own initiative and what’s possible within our legal framework, rather than what’s requested by the United States,” she told parliament. “We have asked various sections of various ministries to discuss this.” Any maritime security operation would be “extremely difficult legally”, she said. Sending its Self-Defence Forces abroad is politically sensitive in officially pacifist Japan, as many voters support the US-imposed, war renouncing 1947 constitution. Takayuki Kobayashi, the policy chief of Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said on Sunday the threshold was “extremely high” for Tokyo to send in its warships. – AFP Northland mudfish is fish of the year WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s elusive Northland mudfish has been named Fish of the Year 2026 after a dramatic late surge in public voting, becoming the first freshwater and smallest species to win the contest. Organised by the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust, the contest aims to raise public awareness about native fish species and their conservation status, similar to the popular Bird of the Year vote. This year’s poll saw a record 5,896 New Zealanders cast their votes. Once trailing outside the top 10, the 15cm mudfish surged ahead in the final 24 hours, fuelled by a social media push and backing from New Zealand’s Northland Regional Council. The victory dethroned last year’s viral winner, the blobfish, known for its “ugliness”, and saw the mudfish outpace larger marine rivals, including the great white shark, whale shark, longfin eel and big-belly seahorse. Conservation groups hope the spotlight will help raise awareness of New Zealand’s rapidly vanishing wetlands, more than 90% of which have been lost. “We urgently need to protect and restore wetlands and riparian areas across the country to give freshwater fish like the Northland mudfish a fighting chance,” said Samara Nicholas, co director of the trust. The annual contest invites public votes for overlooked species that deserve attention, according to the trust’s website, and public voting ran from Feb 28 through March 15. – Bernama

SYDNEY: A fifth member of the Iranian women’s football team who had sought asylum in Australia has changed her mind and decided to return home to Iran. The latest withdrawal leaves only two of the original six players and one support staff member who sought asylum in Australia last week fearing possible persecution if they returned home. Concerns over their safety came after the players failed to sing the national anthem at a women’s Asian Cup match earlier this month. The five who withdrew their claims are expected to join the rest of the team in Kuala Lumpur where the squad has been staying since departing from Sydney last week. Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Matt

Luxon inspecting a guard of honour in Apia yesterday. – AFPPIC

Samoa PM calls out great power bullying APIA: Samoa’s prime minister condemned major powers “bullying” yesterday, a thinly veiled swipe at the United States and China as he hosted New Zealand’s leader for a rare state visit to the Pacific nation. Both the United States and China have been vying for influence in the strategic region, with both nations seeking to secure lucrative deals for resources and minerals that can be mined from the sea floor.

“Samoa’s focus is to ensure we look after ourselves, by ourselves and controlling ourselves.” Luxon reaffirmed New Zealand’s commitment to Samoa and said the two countries were “not friends, we are family”. At a lavish ceremony, Luxon was granted a chiefly title of Tuisinavemaulumoto’otua. Samoa has been pushing for free movement of its people to New Zealand. Luxon said New Zealand would further review immigration settings. – AFP

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, which included Luxon, Schmidt said “you see the change nowadays in the world, big country’s bullying”. “Start to change things dynamically, tariffs, pushing things, petroleum, taking over, all of that,” he said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s trip is the first to Samoa by a leader since La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt took office last year. Luxon has framed his trip as part of a push to deepen economic and security ties in the Pacific.