President Donald Trump lauded Australia for handling asylum for members of the Iranian Women’s soccer team after he called on the country to do so earlier Monday.
Trump took to Truth Social to announce he had spoken with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about the matter because several of the team’s members refused to sing along to the Iranian national anthem ahead of its first game in the Women’s Asian Cup.
The refusal to sing along runs afoul of the rules Iran sets for its players and comes amid the United States’s Operation Epic Fury campaign, which has seen the decimation of the Iranian regime’s leadership since the beginning of the month.
As Breitbart News reported, Iranian authorities reportedly threatened the women, and all players sang the national anthem before their second and third matches. They also delivered a military salute before the third competition.
“I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it!” Trump said Monday.
“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,” he continued.
Trump added that Albanese “is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation.”
Hours earlier, Trump said Australia would be “making a terrible humanitarian mistake” if it allowed the “team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed.”
He said that if Australia did not grant the players asylum, the United States would.
Soon after, CNN reported that five of the players were safely with Australian police.
“According to sports journalist Raha Pourbakhsh, at least seven players left the team hotel with five of those having now applied for asylum with the Australian Federal Police,” CNN reported.
“Pourbakhsh, who works for Iran International TV, told CNN that the families of three of those five players who are now safe with police had been threatened and said the whereabouts of at least two other players are unknown after they also left the team hotel,” the outlet added.
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