Foreign Minister Penny Wong refuses to comment on fate of Iranian women’s football team playing in Australia

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has remained tight-lipped on the fate of Iran’s women’s football team currently playing in Australia after its players were branded “traitors” on Iranian state television.

That has sparked calls to provide protection to the team in Australia, where they are playing in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, with their last game on Sunday.

The Iranian team, or the Lionesses as they are also known, arrived in Australia just days before the US/Israel strikes on Iran led to conflict across the Middle East.

But fears for players’ safety were sparked after they did not sing the national anthem ahead of their match against South Korea last week, in what was considered a silent protest against the Islamic Republic regime.

It prompted a conservative presenter on the state-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting to brand the group wartime “traitors”, in a sentiment aligned with the government’s brutal history of cracking down on dissent.

Asked if these circumstances made it safe for the Iranian players to return home, Senator Wong avoided drawing a conclusion on their fate, saying she didn’t want to “get into commentary” about the team.

“I want to say about the Iranian women’s team that it has been really moving for Australians to see them in Australia,” she told ABC’s Insider program on Sunday.

“And the (Australian women’s soccer team) Matildas swapping jerseys with them was, I think, a very evocative moment that spoke to solidarity and the way sport can bring us together.

“We know this regime has brutally murdered many of its people. We know this regime has brutally oppressed many Iranian women, and we stand in solidarity with the men and women of Iran particularly Iranian women and girls.”

Iran’s women’s football team has been accompanied on their Australia trip by a delegation believed to be linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary arm of the Iranian government banned in Australia.

Those staff members have reportedly put the players under intense surveillance, including restricting their phone usage and movements.

When asked if the government had been able to make contact with the players without their minders, Senator Wong refused to comment, saying the matter was outside the parameters of her portfolio.

The players are set to play their final game in Australia on Sunday.

But Iranian-Australians have appealed to the Albanese government to help the players amid fears they will face severe punishment upon their return home.

A petition addressed to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, penned by the Australian Iranian Council, detailed “grave concern” for the safety and wellbeing of the players and calls on the government to ensure players are not forced to depart Australia while “credible fears for their safety remain”.

It also demanded players are provided with legal and counselling advice, and allowed to seek protection privately, “without interference from regime-associated officials or handlers.”

At the time of writing, it has more than 44,000 signatures.

“Australia is hosting this tournament. That carries not only logistic responsibilities, but moral ones,” the description read.

“Where credible evidence exists that visiting athletes may face persecution, imprisonment, coercion, or worse upon return, silence is not a neutral position.

“The Australian government has both the capacity and the responsibility to ensure that these women are protected while on our soil.”