Trump warns Australia 'is making a terrible humanitarian mistake' over Iranian women's soccer team
President Donald Trump offered a stark warning to the Australian government on Monday as the Iranian women’s soccer team is slated to return home following the Women’s Asian Cup.
The team faces uncertainty as war broke out while they were in Australia for the tournament. Amid concerns for player welfare, the Australian Iranian Council wrote to Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke urging the government to protect the squad members while they’re in the country.
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Trump weighed in with a post on Truth Social.
"Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed," he wrote. "Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t."
Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Matt Thistlethwaite was asked whether the country would grant the Iranian players asylum but said the government could not "go into individual circumstances for privacy reasons."
Five Iranian women’s soccer players reportedly defected with the help of police.
The team arrived in Australia before Israel and the U.S. launched a joint offensive against Iran on Feb. 28. The strikes led to the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iranian players refused to sing their national anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday, which was viewed by some as an act of resistance, which was dubbed by an Iranian commentator as the "pinnacle of dishonor."
The team didn’t clarify. But the players sang the anthem and saluted before their losses to Australia and the Philippines.
The Australian Iranian Council launched an online petition urging Australian authorities to "ensure that no member of Iran’s women’s national football team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain."
"Where credible evidence exists that visiting athletes may face persecution, imprisonment, coercion, or worse upon return, silence is not a neutral position," the petition read. "The current wartime environment has intensified repression, fear, and the risks faced by anyone publicly perceived by the Islamic Republic as disloyal."
Iran head coach Marziyeh Jafari was quoted as saying on Australia’s national news agency that the team wants "to come back to Iran as soon as we can."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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