Australia granted humanitarian visas to five members of the Iranian women’s football team on Monday, resolving a global standoff that began when the players stayed silent during Iran’s national anthem before their first match at the Women’s Asian Cup in Queensland — a gesture that Iranian state television branded the pinnacle of dishonour and which sparked calls for punishment from hardliners back in Tehran. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke flew to Brisbane to meet the players, announcing that he had told the five women they were welcome to stay in Australia, that they were safe, and that they should feel at home. The five named players were team captain Zahra Ghanbari, midfielders Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Sarbali Alishah, and Mona Hamoudi, and defender Atefeh Ramezanizadeh — all of whom had been transported to a safe location by Australian Federal Police in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time after breaking free from their Iranian security minders at the Gold Coast hotel where the team was staying under heavy guard.
The resolution came only after extraordinary diplomatic pressure from US President Donald Trump, who on Monday posted on Truth Social that Australia was making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the team to be forced back to Iran, where he said they would most likely be killed, and declared that the United States would take the women if Australia would not. Within an hour of that post, Trump returned to the platform to say he had spoken to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who confirmed that five had already been taken care of and that the rest were on their way. Albanese described the call as very positive, telling reporters he was able to convey to Trump the action his government had taken over the previous 48 hours. The Australian Iranian Council had meanwhile gathered more than 50,000 petition signatures urging the government to prevent any team member from departing while credible fears for their safety remained.
The crisis had been building since the players’ anthem silence on 2 March against South Korea — their first match — which was widely interpreted as an act of resistance or mourning. They were subsequently reported to have been coerced into singing the anthem and giving a military salute before their second and third matches, a detail that deepened concerns among human rights campaigners about how much freedom the women actually had in Australia, where Iranian security officials were reported to have escorted them everywhere, including to meals in a hotel conference room. Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari said after the final match — a 2-0 loss to the Philippines that ended the team’s tournament — that the players wanted to return to Iran as soon as possible. Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref dismissed the asylum situation as psychological warfare and insisted the government would welcome its athletes home with open arms.
