Australia grants asylum to five Iranian women’s football players after Asian Cup SOS in Brisbane

Australia has granted asylum to five players on the Iranian women’s football team overnight and says the same offer remains should any other members wish to take it up.

The rest of the team has now left their Gold Coast hotel, with one of the players appearing to be pulled by their teammates onto the bus.

Footage shows a heavy AFP presence around the minibus as the team boarded.

Supporters attempted to block the vehicle’s departure, including by sitting on the ground in front of it as they chanted: “Save our girls.”

The team bus arrived at the Gold Coast airport a short time later, again with a heavy police presence.

The confirmation of the visas in the early hours of Tuesday sparked tears of joy and spontaneous cries of “Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi”.

A broadcaster working for Iranian state TV last week branded the Lionesses squad “wartime traitors” for not singing the national anthem ahead of their first game of the Asian Cup.

They sang and saluted for the next two matches.

The events sparked fears among Iranian community advocates and the broader Australian public about the women’s safety on returning to their home country.

Members of the team were spotted signalling “SOS” hand signals from the team bus on the Gold Coast, community sources said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the Government had made it clear to the Iranian delegation that they could seek assistance if they wanted to, and made every effort to give them the opportunity to do so.

He personally welcomed players Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Sarbali Alishah, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh, Mona Hamoudi, and Zahra Ghanbari in Brisbane late on Monday night after the Australian Federal Police helped them move to a safe location.

Home Affairs finalised their visa paperwork at 1.30am AEDT on Tuesday.

“Once everything had been signed off last night, there were lots of photos, lots of celebrating, and then a spontaneous outcry of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi’. These women are great athletes, great people, and they’re going to feel very much at home in Australia,” Mr Burke told reporters early on Tuesday morning.

“They wanted to make clear they are not political activists. They’re athletes who want to be safe and are very grateful that Australia is making that opportunity for them.

“These women have been weighing up an incredibly difficult decision.

“I respect that even though the offer continues to be there for other members of the team, it is quite possible and indeed likely that not every woman on the team will make a decision to take up the opportunity that Australia would offer to them.”

Mr Burke spent Sunday night in Brisbane before returning to Canberra on Monday, where the Cabinet’s national security committee met in the afternoon.

He returned to Brisbane on Monday night, as revealed in The West.

The Home Affairs Minister confirmed he checked with ASIO boss Mike Burgess that the intelligence agency had no security concerns about the five women before he offered them Australian visas.

He also spoke with AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett about security arrangements for the women.

US President Donald Trump also inserted himself into the calls for Australia to help the soccer players, taking to his social media platform Truth Social in the early hours of the morning to accuse Australia of “making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iranian Women’s National Soccer team to be forced back to Iran”.

The President then phoned Anthony Albanese at around 2am to discuss the plight of the players, in a conversation the Prime Minister described as lengthy and warm.

“He was concerned about the Iranian women in the soccer team and their welfare and their safety if they returned home. He conveyed that to me. 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,” Mr Albanese said.

“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women. They’re safe here and they should feel at home here.”

Shadow home affairs minister Jonno Duniam said he hoped more of the footballers decided to take the same path.

He was in contact with Mr Burke over the past few days about the situation.

“It’s an incredibly sensitive issue when you’ve got people who are effectively under the custody of a foreign nation and on our soil,” he said.

“There’s only so much that can be said and instinctively an Opposition wants to say come on government get on with the job and do something to protect these women, but that would have jeopardised any efforts that were ongoing there.”

“This is the right outcome and as I say hopefully more of the 20-strong squad remaining want to come and join us here in Australia and call this country home.”

The Refugee Council of Australia said the welcome decision recognised the serious safety concerns the players could face if they were required to return to Iran.

“Australia’s protection system exists for exactly these kinds of situations, to ensure that people who face serious harm if returned to their country have the opportunity to seek safety and have their claims properly considered,” chief executive Paul Power said.