President Donald Trump said the US would take in the Iranian women's soccer team if Australia did not provide the players with asylum, amid fears over their safety if they return home.
Australia has been facing pressure to protect the team after Tehran singled out some of the players over their failure to sing the national anthem during a Women's Asian Cup match on the Gold Coast.
“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,” Trump wrote in a social media post Monday. “Don't do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won't.”
An Iranian state TV presenter labeled the players as traitors, according to reports, after they remained silent during the playing of the national anthem during an earlier match in the tournament. The players sang the anthem and saluted in later matches.
The team's campaign ended Sunday with a 2-0 defeat to the Philippines and it is uncertain if arrangements have been made for them to return to Iran amid the war. The players had traveled to Australia only days before the conflict erupted.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Sunday declined to comment on whether Canberra had been in direct contact with the players.
“I don't want to get into commentary about the Iranian women's team. Obviously this is a regime that we know has brutally cracked down on its people,” Wong said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
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