Iran players pose for a team photo ahead of the Women's Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAPImage via AP,File)2026-03-15T20:29:34Z MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) A fifth member of the Iranian womens soccer team who accepted a refugee visa to stay in Australia has left the country, the Australian government said on Monday.The players departure shortly before midnight on Sunday leaves two of an initial seven squad members in Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burkes office said.The Iranian authorities have welcomed the womens change of heart as a victory against Australia and U.S. President Donald Trump. The Iranian diaspora in Australia blame pressure from Tehran. Burke reported on Sunday that two players and a team support staff member had left Sydney for Malaysia on Saturday.Irans team arrived in Australia for the Womens Asian Cup last month, before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28.Initially, six players and a support staff member from a squad list of 26 players accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia before the rest of the Iranian contingent flew from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on March 10. Another later changed her mind and left Australia.The rest of the team has remained in Kuala Lumpur since they left Australia. Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described the womens plight in Australia as a very complex situation.Weve been working very, very closely with them, but obviously this is a very complex situation. These are deeply personal decisions, and the government respects the decisions of those that have chosen to return. And we continue to offer support to the two that are remaining, Thistlethwaite told Sky News television. Theyre being given all the support of the Australian government and indeed the diaspora community to remain here and settle in Australia, he added.Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a political scientist at Melbournes Macquarie University who spent more than two years in Iranian prisons on spying charges from 2018 to 2020, said winning the propaganda war had overshadowed the womens welfare. The high stakes made the Iranian regime sit up and pay attention and try to force their hand in response, in my view, Moore-Gilbert told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.But it wasnt necessarily to be known that this story would blow up and become the international story that it did. But I do think in this case, had these woman quietly sought asylum without that publicity around them, its possible that the Islamic Republic officials might have, as they have in the cases of other Iranian sports people in the past whove defected ... simply allowed that to happen, she added.Irans Tasnim News Agency said after the three left Australia on Saturday and that they were returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland. Concerns about the teams safety in Iran heightened when the players didnt sing the Iranian national anthem before their first match.The Australian government was urged to help the women by Iranian groups in Australia and by Trump.The Iranian news agency described the womens return to the team as the disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump. Some members of the Iranian diaspora in Australia have accused the support staffer who initially accepted asylum then left Australia on Saturday of spreading Iranian government propaganda to her teammates via text messages.Thistlethwaite said there was no evidence to support the theory that the staffer had persuaded others to leave. All those who had remained in Australia after the team had left were genuine asylum seekers, he said.Thistlethwaite said the women had been taken to an undisclosed safe destination once they had decided to stay in Australia.Theyve been able to communicate with family and with others. I understand that some of them did make contact with the Iranian embassy here in Australia. We cant cut off communications for them, Thistlethwaite said.The embassy in the national capital Canberra remains staffed, despite the Australian government expelling the ambassador last year.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in August after announcing that intelligence officials had concluded that the Revoluntionary Guard had directed arson attacks on a Sydney kosher food company and Melbournes Adass Israel Synagogue in 2024. Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria vice-president Kambiz Razmara said the women who accepted asylum had been under pressure from the Tehran regime.Theyve had to make decisions at the spur of the moment with very little information and theyve had to react to the circumstance, Razmara said. Im surprised that theyve decided to go, but Im actually not surprised because I appreciate the pressures that theyre experiencing. ROD MCGUIRK McGuirk covers Australian and South Pacific news for The Associated Press. He is based in Melbourne. mailto