GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — The Iranian women’s soccer team left Australia minus seven of its members, after tearful protests of their departure outside Sydney Airport and frantic final efforts inside the terminal by Australian officials who sought to ensure the women understood they were being offered asylum.

As the team’s flight time drew nearer and they passed through security late Tuesday, each woman was taken aside to meet alone with officials who explained through interpreters that they could choose not to return to Iran.

Seven other women earlier accepted humanitarian visas, allowing them to remain permanently in Australia. Eventually, after what Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke described as “emotional” meetings, no more women accepted the offers of asylum, and the team’s flight departed Sydney with all remaining members on board.

The tense and precarious nature of their decisions was underscored on Wednesday when Burke announced one of the seven who had stayed behind would return home after all.

“In Australia, people are able to change their mind,” said Burke, who had hours earlier posted photos of the seven women granted humanitarian visas to his social media accounts, their identities clearly visible.

Players’ choices about asylum captured national attention in Australia

It was a dramatic conclusion to an episode that has gripped Australia since the Iranian team’s first game at the Asian Cup soccer tournament, when they remained silent during their national anthem. The players sang the anthem before subsequent games, though, and haven’t publicly disclosed their views or explained their actions.

Their silence was cast as a gesture of defiance or protest by some, and an act of mourning by others.

“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,” Burke said. “We responded by saying, the invitation is there. In Australia, you can be safe.”

The team arrived in Australia last month, before the Iran war began on February 28. Iran was knocked out of the tournament over the........

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