I must emphasise that traitors during wartime<\/a> should be dealt with more severely,\u201d host Mohammad Reza Shahbazi said.<\/p>\nAn Iran supporter at their match against the Philippines. Photograph: Martin Rickett\/PA<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stain of dishonour and treason must remain on their foreheads, and they must face a definitive and severe confrontation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pressure brought to bear on the team \u2013 tightly sequestered in the team hotel, their movements and communications monitored by team security presumed to be members of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps \u2013 became apparent at their next match.<\/p>\n
When the Iranian national anthem was played before the team played Australia\u2019s Matildas, every member of the team saluted and sang.<\/p>\n
Already, some were planning they would not return to Iran.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s final group match was against the Philippines on Sunday. A loss would see them out of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Amid ceaseless rain on the Gold Coast, so it came to pass. Despite repeated extraordinary and desperate saves by goalkeeper Raha Yazdani, Iran lost 2-0, their tournament ended.<\/p>\n
As their bus left the stadium, protesters surrounded it, chanting \u201csave our girls\u201d. Some players were seen to be making the international hand gesture for help – holding one hand up, tucking the thumb into the palm, and folding the fingers down over it.<\/p>\n
Over Sunday and Monday, home affairs minister Tony Burke travelled to Queensland to speak with team members about their situation, and their potential desire to stay in Australia.<\/p>\n
In the lobby of the Royal Pines Resort, friends and advocates sought a fleeting chance encounter \u2013 as little as eye contact across the room \u2013 with members of the tightly sequestered, surveilled team.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Iranian diaspora leaders wrote to home affairs minister Tony Burke, concerned time was running out to reach the players.<\/p>\n
\u2018Forces of coercion and control\u2019<\/p>\n
The advocates held \u201cserious concerns that Islamic Republic officials accompanying the team are closely monitoring the players and are intimidating them\u201d.
\u201cWe respectfully urge the Australian authorities to speak with the players individually and privately \u2026 away from Islamic Republic officials or security personnel, to ensure they are aware of their rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
A source familiar with the operation said that there was little chaos or confrontation when officials sought access to the players Monday. The source said that federal police \u2013 in inviting individual players to speak privately so that could be informed of their rights \u2013 were able to remove the minders\u2019 \u201cforces of coercion and control\u201d that were keeping the players isolated.<\/p>\n
The Australian government offered temporary humanitarian visas to members of the team who did not feel they could safely return to Iran. The visas are subclass 449 which offer temporary protection, with a pathway to permanency: they are the visas that have previously been offered to Ukrainians and Afghans fleeing conflict in their countries.<\/p>\n
Five players from the squad \u2013 captain Zahra Ghanbari, and teammates Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh, and Mona Hamoudi \u2013 made the decision not to return to Iran.<\/p>\n
Iran team captain Zahra Ghanbari (second left), Mona Hamoudi (second right) and Atefeh Ramazanzadeh (right) on the bench during their match against the Philippines on Sunday. Photograph: Dave Hunt\/AAP<\/p>\n
Those players were then taken by Australian federal police officers \u201cto a secure location\u201d away from the team hotel: slipping their oppressive surveillance, and driven from the hotel by police.<\/p>\n
They have been security-vetted by intelligence agency Asio. The players remain under the protection of the AFP, and have given permission for their names and images to be published.<\/p>\n
The ministerial paperwork was finalised about 9:30pm Monday, long before the bombastic declaration of US president Donald Trump. The visas were formally granted at about 1:30am on Tuesday. The players had a right to stay in Australia.<\/p>\n
Fifteen minutes earlier – late morning Washington DC time – Trump had taken to Truth Social to berate Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese for failing to protect the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman\u2019s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don\u2019t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump promised the US would resettle the players if Australia wouldn\u2019t. He then reposted a post from Australian activist Drew Pavlou alleging team members faced a \u201cflight home tomorrow to almost certain persecution\u201d.<\/p>\n
Albanese was then woken by a phone call from the president just before 2am in Canberra, a discussion, despite the hour and the urgency, the prime minister characterised as \u201cpositive\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe [Trump] was concerned about the Iranian women in the soccer team and their welfare and their safety if they returned home,\u201d Albanese said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to convey to him the action that we\u2019d undertaken over the previous 48 hours and that five of the team had asked for assistance and had received it and were safely located.<\/p>\n
\u201cAssistance remains available for the other members of the team, but it of course is a decision for them. If they make a decision to ask for support, they will receive it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump returned to megaphone diplomacy on Truth Social just before 3am Australia-time, his tone markedly changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women\u2019s Soccer Team. He\u2019s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way. Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don\u2019t return. In any event, the Prime Minister is doing a very good job\u2026 with this rather delicate situation. God bless Australia!\u201d<\/p>\n
A few hours later, Australia woke to the news that five members of the Iranian team would not be leaving the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are welcome to stay in Australia,\u201d Burke told an early morning press conference in Brisbane. \u201cThey are safe here, and they should feel at home here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say to the other members of the team: the same opportunity is there. Australia has taken the Iranian women\u2019s soccer team into our hearts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese women are tremendously popular in Australia, but we realise they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they\u2019re making. But the opportunity will continue to be there to speak to Australian officials if they wish to.\u201d<\/p>\n
While so far, only five members of the team have chosen not to return to Iran, more defections may follow.<\/p>\n
Sources close to the group have told the Guardian they expect more players – and possibly some staff – to make the decision to stay in Australia. But the team is still under surveillance by regime-linked minders surrounding the team.<\/p>\n
\u2018Speculation and wild misinformation\u2019<\/p>\n
On Tuesday afternoon, the team bus left their hotel, bound for the Gold Coast airport for a flight to Sydney, from where they would leave the country. At least one player was seen to be being forcibly led on to the team bus \u2013 held by the hand and pulled by a team-mate.<\/p>\n
Anxious friends and advocates speculated on where they might fly to, and how players could be safely reached \u2013 and asked freely their wishes \u2013 before they boarded a flight.<\/p>\n
Police officers clear the road for as Iran\u2019s women footballers leave their Gold Coast hotel. Photograph: Patrick Hamilton\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Iran state media quoted Farideh Shojaei, vice-president for women\u2019s affairs at the Iranian Football Federation, who said the team had left the hotel accompanied by police.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have contacted the embassy, the football federation, the foreign ministry and anywhere possible to see what will happen,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have even spoken with the families of these five players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shojaei said while the squad had originally planned to return to Iran via Dubai, in the wake of Iranian missile strikes on UAE territory, its government had refused to allow Iran\u2019s players to transit through its territory. Shojaei said she now expected the team to return through Malaysia and Turkey.<\/p>\n
In Australia, as the team\u2019s expected departure drew closer, speculation grew rampant, fuelled by wild misinformation, over the fate of the team.<\/p>\n
Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, detained by Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards in Evin Prison for 804 days between 2018 and 2020, urged Australia to make a last-minute intervention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a rare opportunity to hold the regime to account for the way that it treats women and girls. If there is any evidence of coercion by the accompanying delegation, I think Australia should seize upon it and investigate and do our best to protect these women,\u201d she told the Guardian.<\/p>\n
Late on Tuesday, the remaining team members landed at Sydney airport. They were escorted from the back of their plane on to a bus, surrounded by airport staff and federal police. It was not known where they were taken.<\/p>\n
Dozens of supporters who had gathered at the gate inside the terminal to greet the players were forced instead to shine torches through the airport window.<\/p>\n
Someone from inside the team\u2019s bus appeared to shine a torch light back. Those gathered to support the team argued with police that the light meant the person wanted help.<\/p>\n
One supporter, Farak, carried a recording she said was of one player\u2019s mother, urging her to stay in Australia, to not return home. Farak intended to play it via a speaker to the player as she exited the plane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure if she hears this she will want to stay,\u201d Farak, who gave only her first name, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n
Farak said she was devastated the player did not get the chance to hear the recording.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so sad. What if something happens to this girl?\u201d<\/p>\n
with Jordyn Beazley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rarely has a first touch carried so much consequence. As the Philippines\u2019 second goal sailed untouched into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-526786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}