United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump has offered asylum to the Iran women’s football team after the Iranian state media labelled them as “traitors” following the team’s refusal to sing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s national anthem.
The Iran women’s football team, currently in Australia for the Asia Cup, lost their final group match on Sunday and are set to return home to Iran amid the ongoing U.S.-Israel and Iran war.
Australia is facing calls to protect the team and prevent them from returning to Iran.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the U.S. president wrote: “Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Women’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed.”
Trump urged the Australian prime minister to offer them asylum, adding, “The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”
This comes after the football team refused to sing Iran’s national anthem before their first match on March 2.
They have since performed the anthem in the subsequent matches but the Iranian media have described the initial act of defiance as “the pinnacle of dishonour.”
A campaign is ongoing in Australia calling for the government to “Save our girls”. An online petition calling for Australia to ensure the safety of the women’s football team has garnered more than 50,000 signatures so far.
The Australian government is yet to react to the U.S. president and human rights activists’ demands.
