(Bloomberg) — Australia granted asylum to two more members of the Iranian women’s soccer team — bringing the total to seven — after the duo sought protection shortly before the delegation was due to fly out.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he was informed that a sixth player and one support staff member wanted to accept Australia’s offer to remain in the country.
With assistance from the Australian Federal Police, the pair was separated from the rest of the group and taken to a secure location near Brisbane Airport, where the minister met with them.
“I made them the same offer that I made the five players the night before,” Burke told reporters in Canberra. “If they wanted to receive a humanitarian visa for Australia, which would have a pathway to a permanent visa, I had the paperwork ready to execute that immediately.”
Burke said both of them accepted the offer. “I signed off on that and asked the department to start processing straight away.”
The Iranian soccer team ended its campaign in the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday with a 2–0 defeat to the Philippines, leaving players facing uncertainty about returning to Iran amid an escalating conflict in their homeland. Iranian state television had branded them traitors after they remained silent during the national anthem ahead of their opening loss to South Korea on March 2.
Burke detailed the steps taken to ensure the Iranians could make decisions free from outside pressure. As the full delegation later passed through customs and immigration, each player and support staff member was interviewed individually, without minders present, alongside immigration officials and an interpreter.
Burke said authorities ensured there was “no rushing” and that individuals had the opportunity to contact family members before making a decision. He described efforts to help at least one individual speak with relatives overseas before boarding the return flight.
“There was no pressure to have to get on the plane at all,” he said, adding that each person ultimately made their own decision.
The minister said he was upfront that while permanent residency carries rights that can extend to family members, those provisions only become relevant if relatives are able to leave Iran.
“Even Australian citizens who are in Iran at the moment, we don’t have a way of getting them out,” he added. Burke declined to elaborate on specific claims of persecution, saying those details were not discussed directly.
Iran has said that the team could return home “with calm and confidence,” the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported, citing a statement from the Attorney General’s Office. It added that the players acted “unintentionally” under emotional influence from what it described as “enemy conspiracies.”
Australia’s decision to grant the seven members of the delegation asylum comes after it agreed to send a surveillance aircraft and missiles to the Middle East to help defend against Iranian attacks.
The US-Israeli bombing of Iran and the Islamic Republic’s counterstrikes since late February are reverberating globally, snarling energy supplies and grounding air transport. Iran has targeted Israel and Gulf states, widening a conflict that’s drawn over a dozen nations into the fray.
–With assistance from Aradhana Aravindan.
(Rewrites throughout with details from home affairs minister.)
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