Australia grants asylum to five Iranian soccer gamers amid security issues again residence

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Australia granted asylum to 5 gamers from the Iranian girls’s soccer staff who have been visiting for a event when the U.S.-Israeli assaults towards Iran started.

Australian federal cops on Tuesday transported the 5 girls from their lodge in Gold Coast, Australia , to a "secure location" after they made asylum requests to satisfy with House Affairs Minister Tony Burke and to finalize the processing of their humanitarian visas.

"Final night time I used to be capable of inform 5 girls from the Iranian Girls’s Soccer staff that they're welcome to remain in Australia, to be secure and have a house right here," Burke mentioned on X.

The transfer comes after the staff refused to sing the Iranian anthem earlier than their first Girls’s Asian Cup match early final week towards South Korea, though they later sang and saluted the anthem in two subsequent matches, together with forward of their last match, after they have been eradicated by the Philippines.

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Australian House Affairs Minister Tony Burke poses with 5 Iranian girls soccer gamers who've been granted asylum in Australia, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Australia Ministry of House Affairs)

"I do not need to start to think about how troublesome that call is for every of the person girls, however actually final night time it was pleasure, it was aid," Burke advised reporters after signing the paperwork. "Individuals have been very enthusiastic about embarking on a life in Australia."

The 5 girls mentioned they have been comfortable for his or her names and photos to be revealed, in line with Burke, who emphasised that the gamers needed to clarify that they weren't political activists.

The Iranian staff arrived in Australia for the event earlier than the warfare towards Iran started on Feb. 28.

After the staff was eradicated from the event over the weekend, they confronted doubtlessly returning to a rustic nonetheless underneath bombardment. The staff's head coach, Marziyeh Jafari, mentioned on Sunday the gamers "need to come again to Iran as quickly as we will."

An official squad listing named 26 gamers, in addition to Jafari and different coaches.

Whereas solely 5 gamers have been granted asylum, Burke mentioned the supply was given to everybody on the staff.

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Iran gamers throughout their nationwide anthem forward of the Girls's Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAPImage by way of AP)

"These girls are tremendously fashionable in Australia, however we notice they're in a really troublesome scenario with the choices that they’re making," Burke mentioned. "The chance will proceed to be there for them to speak to Australian officers in the event that they want to."

It stays unclear when the remaining gamers will depart Australia.

"Australians have been moved by the plight of those courageous girls," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese advised reporters. "They're secure right here and they need to really feel at residence right here."

"They then needed to take into account that and do it in a means that didn't current any hazard to them or to their households and mates again residence in Iran," he continued.

The asylum supply got here after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday called on Australia to grant asylum to any staff member who needed it.

Trump had blasted Australia on social media, saying Australia was "making a horrible humanitarian mistake" by permitting the staff to be "compelled again to Iran, the place they are going to most certainly be killed."

Supporters react in direction of a bus transporting Iranian girl gamers following their Girls's Asian Cup soccer match towards the Philippines on the Gold Coast, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAP Picture by way of AP)

"The U.S. will take them in the event you gained’t," Trump mentioned, regardless of his administration's efforts to restrict the variety of immigrants within the U.S. who can obtain asylum for political functions.

Simply hours later, Trump praised Albanese in one other publish.

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"He’s on it! 5 have already been taken care of, and the remainder are on their means," Trump wrote.

Albanese mentioned Trump had known as him for "a really optimistic dialog," concerning the challenge. The prime minister mentioned he defined "the motion that we might undertaken over the earlier 48 hours" to assist the ladies.