Five members Iranian women’s soccer team have been granted asylum in Australia – as late-night talks between US President Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese emerged.
The squad were seen making what appeared to be an ‘SOS’ hand signal on the team bus after their Asian Cup campaign ended on Sunday night before five members escaped from their Gold Coast hotel on Monday to avoid returning home, where they faced possible persecution.
Captain Zahra Ghanbari, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi are now under federal police protection at a safe house after they were granted humanitarian visas by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke overnight.
Iran‘s state media criticised the team for refusing to sing the Iranian national anthem before their Asian Cup opener against South Korea, calling them ‘wartime traitors’ who must be dealt with severely.
The plight prompted Trump to weigh in and plead with the Prime Minister to personally intervene.
‘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 said in a social media post on Monday night.
‘Don’t do it, Mr Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The US will take them if you won’t. Thank you for your attention to this matter.’
A follow up post simply stated: ‘ASYLUM!’
Members of the Iranian women’s soccer team have sought asylum in Australia
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke signed off on humanitarian visas for five players late Monday night
An hour later, Trump confirmed that he had spoken to Albanese and praised the prime minister for his handling of a ‘rather delicate situation‘.
‘He’s on it!’ he wrote on Truth Social.
‘Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.
‘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.
‘In any event, the Prime Minister is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation. God bless Australia!’
The daring escape sparked wild celebrations outside the team’s hotel on Monday night, despite the rain.
Burke later revealed that he has spent the last two days working to ensure any Iranian players who wish to stay in Australia can.
He met with the five players who escaped on Monday night, adding they were happy to be named and pictured as he recalled their joyous reaction.
Donald Trump has held late-night talks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
The five members of the squad who escaped have been granted humanitarian visas
Five players escaped from their Gold Coast hotel on Monday to avoid returning home, sparking wild celebrations
‘There has been a lot of work that’s been going on in recent days to make sure that we had the maximum number of opportunities for these women to know that they could seek assistance if they wanted to, and to have maximum number of opportunities to directly seek that assistance,’ Burke told reporters on Tuesday.
‘In the very early hours of yesterday morning, the conversation started in earnest.
‘Once that happened during the course of yesterday, it was made clear that there were five women who wanted to be able to stay in Australia.
‘I signed off last night for their applications to go onto humanitarian visas, and a little bit after 1.30am this morning, the processing was completed by the Department of Home Affairs.
‘Once everything had been signed off, there were lots of photos, lots of celebrating, and then a spontaneous outbreak of Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi.’
Burke said that same opportunity applies to the rest of the team still holed up at the Royal Pines Resort.
‘Australia has taken the Iranian women’s soccer team into our hearts,’ he said.
‘There were lots of photos, lots of celebrating, and then a spontaneous outbreak of Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi,’ Burke said.
Supporters remain outside the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast, where the rest of the Iranian team are currently holed up
The Iranian women’s team were seen making what appears to be an ‘SOS’ hand signal after their Asian Cup campaign ended on Sunday night
‘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 for them to talk to Australian officials if they wish to.’
Albanese later addressed his very positive discussion with Trump.
‘He was concerned about the Iranian women in the soccer team and their welfare and their safety as they return home, he conveyed that to me,’ he said.
‘I was able to convey to him the action that we’d undertaken over the previous 48 hours, and that five of the team had asked for assistance, and had received it and were safely located.’
Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam commended Burke for intervening.
‘It’s an incredibly sensitive issue when people who are effectively under the custody of a foreign nation and on our soil, and we know there are issues there, there’s only so much that can be said,’ he told Sky.
‘I commend the government more broadly, for what they’ve done. This is the right outcome.’
