Australia has granted asylum to five members of Iran’s women’s national soccer team. They were in the country for a tournament when war broke out in Iran.
The decision comes after Iranian groups in Australia and even President Donald Trump urged the government to offer them protection.
The team drew global attention last week when the players refused to sing Iran’s national anthem before their first match in Australia. Iranian state media later branded them “traitors,” calling the move “the pinnacle of dishonor.”
Iranian state TV said the country’s football federation asked international soccer bodies to review what it called Trump’s “direct political interference in football,” according to the Associated Press. It also warned that Trump’s remarks could disrupt the 2026 World Cup, which begins in North America in June.
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Asylum granted
Early Tuesday morning, police escorted the five players from their hotel on the Gold Coast to what officials called a “safe location” after they requested asylum.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he met with the players before their humanitarian visas were approved. Burke added that the rest of the 26-person team has also been offered the opportunity to stay in Australia.
“These women have been weighing up an incredibly difficult decision, incredibly difficult decision, and I respect that, you know, even though the offer continues to be there for other members of the team, it is quite possible and indeed likely that not every woman in the team will make a decision to take up the opportunity that Australia would offer to them,” Burke said. “What matters here is that they have the best agency they can over those decisions.”
Burke said the women granted asylum were happy for their names and pictures to be published, but they wanted to make clear that they were “not political activists.”
Iran’s exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi identified the five women as Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi.
What about the rest of the team?
The Iranian soccer team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup before the Iran war began on Feb. 28. The team was knocked out of the tournament over the weekend and faced returning to a country at war.
Head Coach Marziyeh Jafari said Sunday the players “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can.”
It’s not clear when the other players are expected to return to Iran.
Tensions grew Tuesday when protesters tried to block a bus reportedly carrying members of the team from their hotel. Local media reported the team later boarded a flight from Gold Coast Airport.
Some of the protesters chanted “Save our girls” and “Please act now.”
