Three more Iranian women’s football squad members return home after being granted asylum in Australia

Three more members of the Iranian women’s football squad have left Australia, leaving behind teammates who sought asylum after playing in the Women’s Asian Cup.

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said on Sunday morning the trio had decided to join the rest of the team in Iran, after being issued special protection visas to stay in Australia.

The decision means just three of the seven squad members who had sought asylum will remain.

Players Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Sarbali and a team support staff member reportedly left Australia on Saturday night for Kuala Lumpur where they met up with other team members who are returning to Tehran.

The team were labeled “wartime traitors” after players refused to sing the country’s national anthem before a match at the tournament. Their plight attracted international attention and even calls for support from the US president, Donald Trump, last week, amid the escalating Middle East war.

“After telling Australian officials they had made this decision the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options,” Burke said in a statement.

“While the Australian government can ensure that opportunities are provided and communicated, we cannot remove the context in which the players are making these incredibly difficult decisions.”

Burke said the Australian government had done everything possible to make sure the women were provided with the chance for a safe future in Australia.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said the latest three to leave Australia were two players and a support staff member. The three were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland”, the news outlet said in a statement.

Tina Kordrostami, an Iranian-born Sydney councillor, told US news outlet Fox News on Sunday that the returning women had been intimidated and “communicated to directly by the regime” in recent days.

“We even had an individual amongst the girls within Sydney and Brisbane who was influencing them constantly, in their ear, letting them know that whatever Australia is offering them it will not work,” Kordrostami said.

“When you see these women turning back to Iran and not seeking our help in Australia, do not think this is their request. They are being coerced, They are being threatened, they are being intimidated, this is not a choice of their own.

“The only choice these girls have made in their entire lives ... was the choice to remain silent during that first national anthem.”

On Monday there was a tense standoff at the team hotel on the Gold Coast in Queensland, where anti-Iranian regime protesters gathered as the players prepared to board a bus taking them to the airport for their return flight to Iran.

There were chaotic scenes at the Royal Pines hotel as government minders rushed into the lobby looking for the women understood to be seeking protection in Australia.

One player changed her mind on Wednesday, and contacted Iranian embassy officials. Others returned home with team officials via flights to Malaysia, and are still believed to be in Kuala Lumpur awaiting their return to Iran.

Tasnim’s statement said the Iranian players had been subject to “psychological warfare, extensive propaganda and seductive offers”.

Federal minister Kristy McBain, speaking on ABC News on Sunday, dismissed the statement itself as “propaganda”.

“I think our government’s been very open with the Australian people about the steps that we’ve taken to ensure that these women in the Iranian soccer team and support staff had every opportunity to make their own decisions in this regard,” McBain said.

“ You know, I think we can all understand propaganda when we see it. And, you know, that statement, I think is one of those things.”

Burke said: “Australians should be proud that it was in our country that these women experienced a nation presenting them with genuine choices and interacted with authorities seeking to help them.”

At the same time as facilitating asylum requests for the players, the government rushed through new laws to stop some temporary visa holders coming to Australia and seeking to stay permanently because of the Middle East war.

The new laws can be used to prevent Iranian tourists from travelling to Australia if their visa was issued before the US and Israel attacked Tehran, and where there is a concern they might overstay their visa or apply for protection while in Australia.

The federal government has offered strong support for the US and Israeli-led bombings in Iran, and is providing military assistance to the United Arab Emirates as part of efforts to defend against retaliatory strikes launched by the regime in Tehran.