Five members of the Iranian women’s football team have been granted humanitarian visas in Australia, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, offering assistance to the other players and saying “help is here”.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed the humanitarian offer on Tuesday morning, hours after the US president, Donald Trump, posted about their plight on social media. Burke said the visas had been granted at about 1.30am on Tuesday morning, around the time of Trump’s social media posts, which first criticised, then praised, Australia.
The players have been granted temporary humanitarian visas by the Australian government, which gives them a pathway to permanent residency. It is not known whether more players, beyond the initial five, will request help from the government.
Albanese said the government has been working on the situation “for some time”, with the Iranian team in Australia for the women’s Asian Cup football tournament. Their appearance at the tournament raised fears they could be punished if they returned home, after the team had received criticism in Iran for not singing the country’s national anthem before a match last week.
Burke had been in Brisbane on Sunday and Monday, where the team is staying, as his department began conversations with the players.
Government sources downplayed reporting that the players had “escaped” their hotel, suggesting the process had begun with the players opening discussions with the government. Burke said the players had then been taken “to a secure location” by the Australian federal police, and that security agency Asio had cleared them.
“They are welcome to stay in Australia,” Burke told an early morning press conference in Brisbane. “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.”
Albanese, speaking shortly after Burke, said “Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women”.
“The AFP have had plans in place with commissioner Krissy Barrett directly involved, and once it was made clear that these women wanted assistance, the Australian federal police moved them to a safe location where they remain,” he told a Canberra press conference.
“We’re willing to provide assistance to other women in the team, noting that this is a very delicate situation, and it is up to them. But we say to them, if you want our help, help is here, and we will provide that.”
Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform about 1.15am (AEDT) that Australia was “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”, demanding Albanese offer them asylum and saying “the US will take them if you won’t.” Burke said on Tuesday that he’d been working with members of the team since at least Sunday, and their visas were granted about 1.30am.
By 2.55am on Tuesday, Trump posted on social media that he had spoken to Albanese about the Iranian team, praising his efforts and adding “God bless Australia”.
“He’s [Albanese] on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way,” Trump wrote.
Albanese declined to provide further details of his conversation with Trump, but said it was “fairly lengthy” and mostly revolved around the Iranian team, with some discussion of the wider Iran war effort and “world events”.
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, were 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.
James Cockayne, the anti-slavery commissioner for New South Wales, wrote to Barrett on Monday night, referring the players’ case for immediate investigation as suspected “exit trafficking”.
The referral letter said “the attempted coercion of the Iranian women’s football team to leave Australia could be a crime under Australian law” and urged the federal police 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.”
