Secret meetings, retribution concerns, a changed mind: the incredible Iran story continues

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When those players were silent at the start of their first match in Australia,

that silence was heard as a roar all around the world.

And the world wanted to know and Australians wanted to know how we would respond.

We responded by saying the invitation is there.

In Australia, you can be safe, you will be welcomed, you will be at home.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Wednesday morning is he announced two more Iranian soccer professionals

had been granted asylum by the afternoon.

One of those women had changed her mind and opted to head home and it underlines the fraught nature of the situation.

At time of publish, six members of the Iran soccer team will be staying in Australia,

astonishing details of secret communications are emerging.

Elation is morphing into hard realities for those at the centre of this story.

The remainder of the team has left the country facing well.

Who can really not? The reaction in Iran has been nasty.

So what comes next? I'm Patrick Stack. This is ABC Sport Daily.

Amanda Shalala is a senior reporter with ABC Sport.

She has led the coverage on this story for the last week or so, Amanda.

Let's start in Sydney last night. What happened as the flight out of Australia

loomed for the Iran football team?

And how did authorities communicate with the women to figure out who wanted to stay?

And who did not?

It was a very tense situation last night, Stacky.

So the team had been staying on the gold coast throughout the women's Asian cup.

As it progressed and more scrutiny was on the team, the security presence around the hotel,

both Australian security presence and the security figures within the team tightened.

We were told that the players were essentially like prisoners in their hotel.

They weren't really allowed to speak with anyone, fraternised with anyone,

and no one could get to them.

So on Monday night, there was the five players that managed to break away from the group

and they were able to seek asylum.

Then there were another two, a staff member and another player that were able to separately

then stay in Brisbane and also say that they wanted to seek asylum.

So that meant the absolute last chance for any other player or staff member

was when they were transiting through Sydney Airport through customs last night

on their way to Kuala Lumpur.

So Australian officials were able to intercept them through customs

and got each of them one-on-one.

The Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke spoke about this today.

Each player and each member of the team with the exception of a small number of people

where we had made the decision that we did not want to make a direct offer to them.

But all the players remaining and most of the support people were taken into interview rooms

without any mind as present, simply themselves and the Department of Home Affairs

and an interpreter and they were given a choice.

So last night no others decided to take up that offer from the Australian government.

They all ended up boarding the plane and went on to Kuala Lumpur

and we believe on their way to Turkey to then get a bus to Iran.

And so we have also heard this has not been verified but potentially that there was another player

who also wanted to stay but ended up boarding the plane.

There was one person where conversations with family were happening

and we weren't sure which way that person would go.

That individual though ultimately made their own decision.

So it was a very complex, very tense and very dramatic situation

which rapidly evolved over the past few days after building up for a week or so.

Tony Burke spoke to the media this morning to explain about the two Iranians

who were joining the five players who he granted asylum on Monday night.

What has happened since that press conference this morning that is altered the situation?

In question time today Tony Burke said that one of the two women

who had decided that she wanted to stay in Australia yesterday,

so there was the five on Monday than an additional two yesterday had changed her mind.

Apparently she spoke to some of her teammates who had boarded the plane

and had decided that note she wanted to go back to Iran.

And apparently they advised her to speak to the Iranian embassy.

And by doing so she then revealed the location of the other team members where they were.

As a result of that it meant that the Iranian embassy now knew the location

of where everybody was.

I immediately gave the instruction for people to be moved

and that's been dealt with immediately.

That is a very tough situation as well.

You had the seven that looked like they were going to stay in Australia and seek asylum.

But now we've had this very late development that there is this one extra person.

And we're unsure yet whether it was the staff member or the player who asked for asylum yesterday.

We're not sure which one it is at this stage that has now asked to return to Iran.

Is there any indication as to whether that person was under a perceived level of threat or pressure

that was in a sort of a ratchet up upon them?

At this stage that's something that I can't speculate on.

The government hasn't shared any details around that.

All that Home Affairs has confirmed is that this person had asked to stay,

spoke to teammates who were on the plane, then changed her mind and decided to go.

And Tony Burke said that.

In Australia people are able to change their mind, people are able to travel.

And so we respect the context in which she has made that decision.

I think that is something though. We will of course follow up.

That's very important to find out why did she change her mind?

Was she under any pressure? We don't know.

Did she have the chance to speak to people while she was in that safe location here

and found out some information that made her change her mind?

We don't know any of that. That's all speculation.

And so I think it's important to not go down that path until we do find out the exact reasons.

I found it interesting that in Tony Burke's initial press conference this morning,

he mentioned that not everyone in the Iranian group was offered asylum.

What was he driving to there?

So ever since the team arrived in Australia about a week and a half ago,

there were some members of the Iranian Australian community,

which raised concerns with the Australian government,

and specifically with Home Affairs, saying that one member or potentially more

from the delegation had links to the IRGC.

The IRGC is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,

and that is listed as a terrorist organization in Australia.

Under Australian law, anyone who was a member of that organization

would not be granted a visa into the country.

And if there was anyone found to have links to the IRGC while they were in Australia,

they would be deported.

But there has still been concerns from many members of the Iranian Australian community

that there may be people embedded with that team that still have links to the regime,

that still have loyalties to the regime and the Iranian government

and have potentially been posing as different team members within the staff,

whether it's a team official or a media manager or things like that.

That has been the greatest concern, that there are people monitoring the movements of these players

and people posing as security staff or other staff members within the team

that perhaps are relaying messages or pressure from the regime.

And so Tony Burke did confirm that when they went to speak to all those players last night

and staff members last night, there was a small group of which the Australian officials

did not offer asylum to.

They make some fairly blunt decisions in my job as to whether a people

who might fall on the right side of criminality,

but you think fall on the wrong side of character.

And so they're the people who we were quite happy to see leave Australia.

So he didn't elaborate further on that, but to sum it up,

there was no one with recorded IRGC links given a visa according to Home Affairs

but potentially people that are not necessarily people who would be welcome here

that happens to be here and would not offer asylum.

Moving to the six people who have opted to stay in Australia.

For those aroundings, it's easy to see this as a happy ending in verticommas

but it's way more complicated than that.

What kind of response is their decision drawn in Iran?

It's such a complicated situation.

It would be very one-sided for us to just look at this through an Australian lens

and think, how great celebrate isn't it fantastic?

But for these players, it must have been an incredibly heart-wrenching decision to make.

I've spoken to Rahar Pobakash, who's a sports journalist and presenter at Iran International TV,

which is an independent UK-based Persian language news service,

and she's really been at the forefront of this story.

She's been the one who's been speaking to the players throughout

and getting a lot of messages to them about hearing your options.

If you do want to seek asylum, this is what you can do.

And she said the players have been under so much pressure,

even before they came here.

She said, before they even came to Australia, they had threats from the regime.

There were financial bonds in place,

essentially threats that their assets could be seized.

Their families assets could potentially be seized if they didn't return

and threats of punishment as well.

So we have heard that those punishments could be things like jail time

or in the worst-case scenario, even execution throughout the escalating violent crackdowns

on anti-government protesters in Iran over the past couple of months.

We have seen that many, many civilians have been killed.

So that was the fear of what may happen to these women.

In terms of the latest developments and the latest response,

we're hearing that there is still potentially threats against these players' families

who have decided to stay.

And so that is very concerning for them,

and they're very worried about that.

And the president of the Football Federation of Iran,

Mehdi Taj, himself, a former commander of the IRGC,

so heavily linked to the regime, he has spoken out.

He has claimed that the players were pressured into seeking asylum

and has essentially accused the Australian government of using this as a political trap

or a political tool.

In the context of all of that,

the reaction from the regime side of things in Iran has been very negative.

They have been condemning the players throughout,

and there are still very real concerns for the safety of these players' families.

And what happens now for the women who have opted to stay in Australia?

Obviously, just the simple next day-to-day steps,

but also sport, I mean, it's a secondary thought,

but I understand we've seen Alec women's clubs eager to integrate the women into the Australian Football System.

First and foremost, the priority will be to find them somewhere to settle,

to connect them with the Iranian Australian community as well,

to find them work.

These are some things that they spoke about.

We don't speak English, you know, how are we going to get jobs?

How do things work here?

They spoke to a migration agent yesterday who shared some of these details

with ABC News and my colleague, Nassim Hadam,

who's been amazing in reporting this story as well.

And so I think that's number one priority.

Get them set up for life in Australia.

And then potentially from a sporting perspective, Brisbane Raw has said,

you can come, we will support you if you want to train with us.

If you need help getting set up to play here,

we know how much of an important tool sport can be for refugees

and migrants in Australian society to help them to adjust,

make new friends, get used to life here.

So that happens with the Afghan Women's Football Team

when they came to Australia after the Taliban take over in 2021

and they were taken under the wing of Melbourne Victory.

And so potentially something similar could happen to these women as well.

But I think an important element is to remember those who have returned to.

We don't know all the reasons of why they have returned,

whether it was the threat of punishments of their families.

This is not one collective voice.

There are many individuals in this group.

So perhaps some of them are regime allied.

We don't know.

This is speculation.

And we're going to try and find out more details.

But I think it's important not to forget them to keep following up this story

and see what happens with them.

Because well, it may be a good news story in some parts.

For those who have come here, there's still concerns for those family

and still concerns for those that have returned.

Amanda Shalala, thanks so much for your time.

I appreciate it.

Thanks, Stucky.

Headlines.

Did you hear about Hawthorne players, Dylan Moore and Connor McDonald

getting in a beer to trouble in the USA during the off season?

The Hawks' pair spent the night locked up after a boozy hitout

saw them in trouble for trespassing.

Moore is no longer Vice-Captain and many assume it cost him a shot

at the club's co-captain.

He is coach Sam Mitchell addressing that assumption.

Even without this, I was the right person to be a co-captain with James.

And how Dylan's position came about was it became a bit more obvious for us

that he wasn't going to be as available in that area

where we didn't think that was appropriate.

So it didn't change the co-captain's decision

and the leadership model as a whole.

Hawks' season opener comes Friday night against bitter rivals, Estonet.

Basketball where Miami centre, Bam out of bio, made NBA history

with the second most points from an individual in a game

as he scored 83 against the hapless Washington Wizards.

That second all-time Kobe Bryant famously had 81.

Wilk Chamberlain remains top with 100 in a game.

And Sokaru's coach Tony Poppavitch has revealed he met with Eddie Jones in Tokyo

to pick the rugby coach's brains about World Cup preparation.

Yes, Jones did have a rough time but the 2023 World Cup

with the Wallabies Barth Poppavitch says he learned much from the rugby coach

and expects to lean on other leaders from across codes.

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I'm Patrick Stack, this is ABC Sport Daily, produced by Poppy Penny.

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