Trump Offers Asylum to Iranian Women’s Soccer Team After Anthem Protest in Australia

President Trump is offering asylum to members of an Iranian women’s soccer team who risk punishment at home after refusing to sing their country’s national anthem before a match at the Asian Cup tournament in Australia last week.Mr. Trump extended the offer as questions mounted over whether Australia would grant them refuge after they were eliminated from the tournament on Sunday following a loss to the Philippines. The team arrived in Australia just before America and Israel launched their joint strikes on Iran.“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,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social early Monday. “Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U. S. will take them if you won’t.” Later in the day, the president stated that Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, was “on it” and “doing a very good job” given “this rather delicate situation.”“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’t return,” Mr. Trump added. The Iranian athletes were branded “wartime traitors” by state TV after they stayed silent while Iran’s national anthem played before a match with South Korea on March 2 — a move widely seen as a rebuke of the regime. The team reversed course and sang the anthem before their second match against Australia a few days later, igniting concerns that they faced government coercion.After the team was eliminated on Sunday, at least one player gestured a “Help” hand signal from the team’s bus as they departed the stadium in Queensland, according to videos taken at the scene.Shortly after the team’s loss, the Australian Iranian Council launched an online petition calling on the Australian government to allow the players to remain in Australia while “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 reads. “The current wartime environment has intensified repression, fear, and the risks faced by anyone publicly perceived by the Islamic Republic as disloyal.”

Trump Offers Asylum to Iranian Women’s Soccer Team After Anthem Protest in Australia

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