Seven women from Iran’s national soccer team remain in Australia, an Australian government official said on Wednesday, as the rest of their team return to the country at the center of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Feb. They had arrived to play in the Asian Women’s Cup before the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on the 28th and crashed out of the tournament over the weekend.
Six of the women have received humanitarian visas that would allow them to stay in Australia permanently, while a seventh has decided to return to Iran, Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.
“In Australia, people are able to change their minds, people are able to travel and so we respect the context in which they made that decision,” Burke told lawmakers in Canberra.
The woman, who Burke did not name, was one of two people – a player and support staff – who accepted Australia’s offer of help on Tuesday night, along with five others who had sought asylum a day earlier. Burke said she changed her mind after speaking with some of the team members who had already left and was advised to contact the Iranian embassy and arrange to be picked up.
“My officers made sure it was her decision and every question you could want to ask was asked,” he said.
With their location now revealed, the other women were quickly relocated, Burke added.
Burke said on Tuesday night, as the rest of the delegation went through customs and immigration at Sydney airport for their departure flight, most members were pulled aside separately and Australian government officials “offered a choice”, speaking through an interpreter.
“We have made sure there is no rush, no pressure,” he told reporters earlier on Wednesday. “It’s all about ensuring those individuals have the dignity to choose.”
Burke said no one else took up Australia’s offer of asylum during the “emotional” meetings, during which some members of the team called their families in Iran.
“I can’t even begin to imagine what people are weighing,” he said.
The women’s story has captivated Australia since their first match on March 2, when they were variously seen as a show of protest or mourning when they fell silent during their national anthem.
“That silence was heard as a roar around the world,” Burke said.
The women, branded “traitors” on Iranian state television, later sang the anthem at their two subsequent games on Thursday and Sunday. He has not publicly commented on the war or his actions.
Supporters, including Iranian Australians, who feared the women would be punished upon returning home, blocked the team bus as it left the hotel for the airport on Australia’s Gold Coast. Others were spotted at Sydney Airport on Tuesday night.
Their situation caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who praised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s handling of a “rather delicate situation” and said the US would take the women if Australia did not.
The Asian Football Confederation, which organized the tournament, said on Wednesday that the team stayed at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after flying from Sydney.
“The AFC will provide all necessary support to the team until their onward travel arrangements are confirmed,” the group said in a statement, adding that it “will continue to prioritize the welfare and safety of players and officials”.
Iranian officials rejected the idea that team members would face persecution upon their return.
“Iran is waiting for you with open arms. Come home,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Bakai posted on X on Tuesday.
Mehdi Taj, head of Iran’s soccer federation, has accused Australian officials of abducting the players. The episode casts further doubt on Iran’s participation in the FIFA World Cup, which the US is hosting this summer along with Canada and Mexico, he said.
“Considering the problems created for women footballers, if this is the perspective of the World Cup, no reasonable person would agree to send them to the US,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
