New Delhi: Three more members of Iran’s football team who participated in the Women’s Asian Cup have decided to return to their homeland after initially accepting a request for asylum.
Australia had handed them humanitarian visas to remain in the country as political asylum but they changed their minds, an Australian government minister said on Sunday.
It left only three of an initial seven squad members to have declined to return after being criticised for not singing Iran’s national team in a group stage game.
“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.”
Iran landed in Australia for the tournament last month, before conflict in West Asia began on February 28.
Urged by USA President Donald Trump, Australia offered humanatarian visas to the entire team and six players and a support staff member initially accepted it before the contingent flew from Sydney towards Tehran on March 9.
After one person had a change of heart, three more left Sydney for Kuala Lumpur where the rest of the team is currently stationed on Saturday night, a government official said.
Two players and a support staff member were the three to “return to the warm embrace of their family and homeland,” Iran’s Tasnim news agency said in a statement.
The women’s return was described as a “disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump” by the news agency.
Iran were knocked out from the group stage in the continental event.
As a consequence of the conflict, Iran have refused to participate in the men’s FIFA World Cup.