Another three members of the Iran women’s soccer team who accepted refugee visas to stay in Australia have decided to return to their homeland, an Australian government minister said on Sunday local time.
The departure leaves three of an initial seven squad members in Australia.
“Overnight, three members of the Iranian Women’s Football Team made the decision to join the rest of the team on their journey back to Iran,” Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement.
“After telling Australian officials they had made this decision, the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options,” Burke added.
Iran’s team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28.
Initially, six players and a support staff member from a squad list of 26 players accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia before the rest of the Iranian contingent flew from Sydney to Malaysia on March 9.
One later changed her mind and left Australia. The other three left Sydney for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday night, a government official said. The rest of the team has remained in Kuala Lumpur since they left Australia.
Mohd RASFAN /AFP via Getty Images
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said the latest three to leave Australia were two players and the support staff member. The three were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland,” the news outlet said in a statement.
Concerns about the team’s safety in Iran heightened when the players didn’t sing the Iranian national anthem before their first match.
The Australian government was urged to help the woman by Iranian groups in Australia and by President Trump.
The Iranian news agency described the women’s return to the team as the “disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian men’s national soccer team’s participation in the World Cup this summer in the U.S. is in doubt.
U.S. officials told CBS News on Tuesday that Mr. Trump had informed FIFA representatives, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino, that Iran was welcome to play in the tournament.
Infantino later wrote on social media that during the meeting Mr. Trump “reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States.”
However, Iran’s sports minister Ahmad Donyamali, in response to Infantino’s comments, said that the country cannot participate in the World Cup given the war.
And on Thursday, Mr. Trump appeared to reverse course, saying he believed it would not be “appropriate” for the Iranian team to take part due to concerns “for their own life and safety.”
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