The U.S. State Department said in a statement Saturday that the niece and great-niece of Qassem Soleimani have been arrested following the revocation of their residency permits by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
President Donald Trump had ordered the drone strike that successfully eliminated the former commander of Iran’s Quds Force in 2020.
While the great-niece was not identified, her mother has been named as Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and labeled as “outspoken” in promoting Iran’s “terrorist regime.” The statement said that her husband has also been blocked from entering the United States.
“Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the statement said. “As identified by both press reporting and her own social media commentary, Soleimani Afshar is an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran.”
“While living in the United States, she promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the ‘Great Satan,’ and voiced her unflinching support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organization,” the statement added. “Afshar Soleimani pushed this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account.”
Rubio also posted on X regarding the incident.
“This week, I terminated both Afshar and her daughter’s legal status and they are now in ICE custody, pending removal from the United States,” he wrote. “The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.”
The State Department said that Rubio also terminated the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, daughter of the former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Larijani, and her husband, Seyed Kalantar Motamedi. The couple is not in the U.S. and will not be allowed to return, according to the statement.
Larijani was assassinated by the IDF last month.
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