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US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Australia had agreed to grant asylum to some of Iran’s visiting women’s football team, whose players refused to sing the national anthem while playing there during the Middle East war.
“I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of,” Trump said on his Truth Social network, less than two hours after an initial post urging Australia to take them in.
Trump added that “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.”
Iran’s women’s team lost its last group match against the Philippines on Sunday and teams ousted during the group stage usually leave within days.
The squad arrived in Australia for the continental championship last month, before the war in the Middle East broke out on 28 February.
Australia’s national news agency quoted Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari saying the squad “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can.”
“I want to be with my country and home…We are eager to come back,” AAP quoted Jafari as telling a post-match news conference.
Their silence during the national anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified which.
But the players sang and saluted during their national anthem ahead of their 4-0 loss to Australia last Thursday and a 2-0 loss to the Philippines on Sunday.
Amid concerns for player welfare following reported criticism in the Iranian media, the Australian Iranian Council wrote to Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke urging the government to protect the squad members while they’re in Australia.
It launched an online petition, which had more than 50,000 electronic signatures before kick-off Sunday, urging Australian authorities to “ensure that no member of Iran’s women’s national football team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain” and also to provide independent legal advice, support and interpreters.
Iran team management and players have mostly declined to comment on the situation at home during more than a week preparing for and playing games on Australia’s Gold Coast, although Iran forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference last Wednesday as she shared concerns for families, friends and all Iranians during the conflict.
The Australian Iranian Council’s online petition asked local authorities to ensure any player seeking protection “can do so safely, privately, and without interference” and to “make clear that Australia will uphold its…humanitarian protection obligations in relation to any player at risk of persecution or serious harm.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong declined to comment on whether the Australian government had made contact with individuals but told domestic media Australia stood in solidarity with the Iranian women’s team.
“It has been really moving for Australians to see them in Australia, and (Australia’s women’s team) swapping jerseys with them was a very evocative moment,” Wong told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday.
“We know this regime has brutally oppressed many Iranian women.”
In a post on X earlier on Monday, the White House official account quoting Trump accused Australia of “making a terrible humanitarian mistake” by not offering the Iranian squad asylum, adding that the US would take them if Australia wouldn’t.
Additional sources • AP, AFP