Five members of the Iranian women’s football team have been granted humanitarian visas in Australia, with the federal government offering assistance to other players.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed the dramatic offer on Tuesday morning, hours after US President Donald Trump posted about their plight on social media.
Trump said he had spoken to the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who had told him that five members of the team had been “taken care of” amid fears they could be punished if they returned home.
Burke said the players had been given assistance by the Australian Federal Police and had been given security clearance by Asio.
“They are welcome to stay in Australia,” Burke said. “They are safe here, and they should feel at home here.
“I say to the other members of the team: the same opportunity is there. Australia has taken the Iranian women’s soccer team into our hearts.
“These women are tremendously popular in Australia, but we realise they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making. But the opportunity will continue to be there to speak to Australian officials if they wish to.”
Posting on Truth Social, Trump said overnight that other members of the team, who have been in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup, “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”.
Trump concluded: “In any event, the Prime Minister is doing a very good job having to do [sic] with this rather delicate situation. God bless Australia!”
It was not clear how many Iranian players remained in Australia.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran who is in political exile, had written on Instagram that five members of the Iranian women’s national team had left their training camp “and successfully sought refuge in Australia”.
“These five courageous athletes, currently in a safe location, have announced that they have joined Iran’s national Lion and Sun Revolution,” Pahlavi’s office wrote.
The five players, Pahlavi said, are Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi.
Speculation had mounted for days that some of the players would try to seek asylum in Australia after reports that they had been called “traitors” for refusing to sing their national anthem before their opening game of the Women’s Asian Cup which started in Australia last week.
On Monday there was a tense standoff at the team hotel on the Gold Coast in Queensland, where anti-Iranian regime protesters gathered as the players prepared to board a bus taking them to the airport for their return flight to Iran.
On Monday night, local time, it was reported that five of the players had slipped their regime minders and were being sheltered by the Australian federal police.
Citing sources within the Australian-Iranian community, Nine newspapers reported that the women were “receiving support” from police. “Police have taken them somewhere safe,” Hadi Karimi, a Brisbane-based human rights activist, told Nine. “It’s great, it’s amazing.”
There were “chaotic scenes” at the Royal Pines hotel, according to news.com, as minders rushed into the lobby looking for the women.
The news.com report said that the Department of Home Affairs had begun processing asylum claims by the women after “secret talks” with the players, when their 2-0 defeat to the Philippines in Robina on Sunday night meant they were out of the tournament.
It was also reported that the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, flew to Queensland on Monday to speak to the players and that he would make a statement on Tuesday.
The Department of Home Affairs was contacted for comment.
Trump had earlier called on Albanese to give asylum to team members.
“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”
Australia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks.
James Cockayne, the anti-slavery commissioner for New South Wales, wrote to the chief of the Australian federal police, Krissy Barrett, on Monday night referring the players’ case for immediate investigation as suspected “exit trafficking”.
The referral letter says “the attempted coercion of the Iranian women’s football team to leave Australia could be a crime under Australian law” and her urges Barrett to investigate and “prevent suspects leaving Australia”.
Protesters briefly blocked the team bus leaving the stadium on Sunday, waving the international sign for help at the players – a fist closed with thumb underneath the four fingers, then opened again.
It appeared that some of the players tried to return the gesture.
A Fifa spokesperson said: “The safety and security of Iran’s women’s national team are Fifa’s priority and we therefore remain in close contact with … the relevant Australian authorities, including Football Australia, in relation to the team’s situation.”