WASHINGTON/SYDNEY, March 10 (Reuters) - Australia on Tuesday agreed to provide visas to five of Iran's women's soccer team players to stay in the country after they sought asylum fearing persecution in their home nation.
The announcement came after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about the Iran women's soccer team in Australia following reports that the players had requested asylum.
The remaining players are in a hotel on the Gold Coast, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters, adding that he had also offered the other team members the chance to stay in Australia.
"Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women," Albanese told a news conference in Canberra on Tuesday.
"They’re safe here, and they should feel at home here."
The Iranian women's soccer team are in Australia for the Asian Cup tournament.
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said five players secretly left the team hotel with Australian police, and media reports said they were seeking Australian government assistance after "breaking free".
TRUMP CALLS AUSTRALIAN PM
Having initially posted on social media that Australia was "making a terrible humanitarian mistake" by allowing the team to be sent back home, Trump said in a later post that he had spoken to Albanese and that the Australian leader was "doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation".
Trump said five members of the Iran squad "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," he said.
In his earlier post Trump said members of the team would "likely be killed" if forced to return to Iran. "The U.S. will take them if you won’t," he added.
Albanese said Trump rang him just before 2 a.m. (1500 GMT Monday).
"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," Albanese said.
The Iranian team's campaign in the Australian-hosted Asian Cup tournament started just as the U.S. and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, killing the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They were eliminated from the tournament on Sunday after losing 2-0 to the Philippines.
FIFPRO VOICES CONCERNS
Soccer's global players' union FIFPRO said on Monday there were serious concerns for the welfare of the Iran team after they were labelled "wartime traitors" for refusing to sing their national anthem before a game.
The players' decision to stand in silence during Iran's anthem before their first match against South Korea was labelled by a commentator on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting as the "pinnacle of dishonour".
Iranian media quoted Farideh Shojaei, vice president for women's affairs at the Iranian Football Federation, as saying the team had left the hotel through the back door with the police.
"We have contacted the embassy, the football federation, the foreign ministry and anywhere possible to see what will happen," she said. "We have even spoken with the families of these five players.”
Iranian media named the players as Zahra Sarbali, Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Ghanbari, Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramazani-Zadeh.
It said other team members were still in Australia and quoted Shojaei as saying the squad had planned to return to Iran via Dubai, but the United Arab Emirates had not allowed them to do so.
It said efforts were now expected to be made for the team to return via Malaysia and Turkey.
The Iranian team sang their national anthem and saluted before their second match against Australia, sparking fears among human rights campaigners that the women had been coerced by government minders.
Australia granted emergency humanitarian visas to over 20 members of the Afghanistan women's cricket team after the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and banned women's sport.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, Renju Jose and Praveen Menon; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Writing by Michelle Nichols and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Ed Osmond, Ken Ferris and Stephen Coates)
