Six of seven Iranian footballers granted asylum in Australia stay, but rest of team returns home

Gold Coast, Australia — The Iranian women’s soccer team left Australia minus seven of its members who were granted asylum, after tearful protests at their departure at Sydney airport and frantic final efforts inside the terminal by Australian officials trying to ensure the women understood they were being offered asylum.

As the team’s flight time approached and they passed through security Tuesday night, each woman was taken aside to meet alone with officials who explained to them through interpreters that they could choose not to return to Iran.

Seven other women before accepted humanitarian visas allowing them to stay permanently in Australia. Ultimately, after what Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke described as “emotional” meetings, no women accepted the asylum offers and the team’s flight departed Sydney with all remaining members on board.

The tense and precarious nature of their decisions was underscored Wednesday when Burke announced that one of the seven who had stayed would be returning home after all.

“In Australia, people can change their minds,” said Burke, who hours earlier had posted on her social media accounts photos of the seven women who were granted humanitarian visas, with their identities clearly visible.

It was a dramatic conclusion to an episode that has plagued Australia since the Iranian team’s first match at the Asian Cup soccer tournament, when it remained silent during the national anthem. The players sang the anthem before subsequent games and have not publicly revealed their views or explained their actions.

His silence was interpreted as a gesture of defiance or protest by some, and as an act of mourning by others.

“When those players went silent at the start of their first game in Australia, that silence roared around the world,” Burke said. “We responded saying the invitation is there. In Australia you can be safe.”

The team arrived in Australia last month, before the war with Iran began on February 28. Iran was eliminated from the tournament over the weekend and the team faced the prospect of returning to Australia. a country under bombardment.

The women’s fate caught international attention when Australian Iranian groups warned they could face dire consequences from Iran’s theocratic government for not singing the anthem, even as the players remained silent about the meaning of the gesture or their own concerns about the return. There was further outrage in Australia on Wednesday after media outlets published a photo that appeared to show a woman being led by the wrist by a teammate to the airport-bound bus, with another team member’s hand on her shoulder.

President Trump waded into the issue on Monday, criticizing the Australian government for not offering asylum to the women and saying in a post on his Truth Social platform: “America will take them if you don’t.”

The next day it emerged that talks between Australian officials and the women had already taken place in private.

Meanwhile, an Iranian official rejected suggestions that the women were not safe to return home.

“Iran welcomes its children with open arms and the government guarantees their safety,” Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said Tuesday. “No one has the right to interfere in the family affairs of the Iranian nation and play the role of a kinder nanny than a mother,” he added.

Iranian state television said the country’s soccer federation had asked international soccer bodies to review what it called the U.S. president’s “direct political interference in soccer,” warning that such comments could disrupt the 2026 World Cup.

Australian officials have tried to assure the public that the women had every opportunity to stay. But as one woman’s decision to return home despite accepting asylum demonstrated, the reality was not so simple.

After days of pitching by officials, Burke said, efforts to ensure each team member had a chance to consider asylum offers boiled down to last-minute discussions at Sydney airport, where the women were separated from their caregivers and had time to call their families before deciding whether to leave.

“It was all about ensuring the dignity of those people to make a decision,” he said. “We couldn’t take away the pressure of context from these individuals, of what they might have been told beforehand, of the pressures they might have felt on other family members.”

However, no other members of the team decided to remain in Australia before the flight departed, and Burke said “exhausted” officials feared they had failed the women.

“As a nation, what mattered was that we could offer the choice,” he said.

On Wednesday, the front pages of many newspapers featured photographs of women who had accepted asylum offers under headlines such as “Brave New Australians.” But just hours later, Burke said one of the women would return to Iran after speaking with her deceased teammates.

“Unfortunately, in making that decision, her teammates and coach advised her to contact the Iranian embassy and have her picked up,” he said. “As a result of that, it meant that the Iranian embassy now knew where everyone was.”

The six women who planned to stay in Australia were immediately moved elsewhere for safety reasons, the minister said. He promised they would not have to fight a legal battle for permanent residency and would receive health, housing and other support in Australia.

Some members of the squad, who officials said had connections to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, were not offered visas.

“There were some people who left Australia and I’m glad they’re no longer in Australia,” Burke said.

It was unclear exactly how many people were in the delegation, but an official team roster named 26 players, plus coaches and other staff. The Asian Football Confederation, which organized the tournament, confirmed on Wednesday that the team had traveled from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where they were staying in a hotel.

“The AFC will provide all necessary support to the team during their stay until their travel arrangements are confirmed,” a statement said, adding that the body “will continue to prioritize the well-being and safety of players and officials.”

The initial five players granted asylum had been staying in a safe location after fleeing their hotel, Iranian opposition figure and exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said on Sunday.

The office of Pahlavi, whose father, the Western-backed Shah, was overthrown during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, said on social media that the “brave athletes” announced that they “have joined Iran’s National Lion and Sun Revolution” – a reference to Iran’s flag before the Islamic Revolution – and named them in the post.