GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — The Iran women's team sang and saluted as its national anthem played ahead of the Women's Asian Cup contest against Australia on Thursday, a contrast to the silence before its opening game.
The silence during the anthem before Monday's loss to South Korea was variously reported as an act of defiance or a show of mourning. The team didn’t clarify.
But in a news conference on the eve of the game against Australia, Iran striker Sara Didar choked back tears as she shared the concerns of players and management for their families and loved ones amid the war in the Middle East.
The 21-year-old Didar was on the bench when Thursday's match started in pouring rain on the Gold Coast, where Iran is scheduled to play all three of its Group A games.
The Iranian women’s squad arrived in Australia well before the strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Iran last Saturday.
The change in approach with the anthem between games in Australia seemed to mirror the Iranian men’s team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The men didn’t sing the national anthem before their opening loss against England as turmoil overshadowed the start of their campaign. In their second game against Wales, the men sang along to the anthem and celebrated when they scored.
Iran was competing in that World Cup amid a violent crackdown on a major women’s protest movement that was spurred by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police.
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Iran players pose for a team photo ahead of the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between Iran and South Korea on the Gold Coast, Australia, Monday, March 2, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAPImage via AP)/AAP Image via AP)/AAP Image via AP)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A new round of U.S-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine planned for this week has been postponed because of war in the Middle East, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, the United States and its allies in the Middle East are seeking Kyiv’s expertise in countering Iran’s Shahed drones. Russia has fired tens of thousands of Shaheds at Ukraine since it invaded its neighbor just over four years ago, Zelenskyy said. Iran has responded with the same type of drones to joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian targets.
The Iran war, now in its sixth day, has drawn international attention away from Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. Western governments and analysts say the Russia-Ukraine war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, while there is no sign that yearlong U.S.-led peace efforts will stop the fighting any time soon.
“Right now, because of the situation around Iran, there are not yet the necessary signals for a trilateral meeting,” Zelenskyy said late Wednesday. “But as soon as the security situation and the overall political context allow us to resume that trilateral diplomatic work, it will be done.”
Various countries, including the United States, have approached Ukraine for help in defending against Iranian drones, Zelenskyy said. He said he has spoken in recent days with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait about possible cooperation.
Ukrainian assistance, he said, will be provided only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses and if it adds leverage to Kyiv’s diplomatic efforts to stop the Russian invasion.
“We help to defend from war those who help us, Ukraine, bring a just end to the war” with Russia, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s army has recently pushed back Russian forces at some points along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Localized Ukrainian counterattacks liberated more territory than Ukrainian forces lost in the last two weeks of February, the Washington-based think tank said this week, estimating the recovered land at about 257 square kilometers (100 square miles) since Jan. 1.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier of the 48th separate brigade launches a reconnaissance drone in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
A Ukrainian soldier of the 48th separate brigade launches a reconnaissance drone in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
