ICE Arrests Relatives of Slain Iranian General Qasem Soleimani Pending Deportation

Federal agents in Los Angeles have arrested two women identified as relatives of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qasem Soleimani. The arrests occurred on Friday after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their permanent resident status, according to a Saturday announcement by the State Department.Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, identified by U.S. officials as Soleimani’s niece, was taken into custody along with her daughter. The arrests were made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Trump administration accused Ms. Afshar of being a supporter of Iran’s “totalitarian, terrorist” regime.“Afshar is the niece of deceased Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani,” Mr. Rubio wrote on X. “She is also an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the ‘Great Satan.'”“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,” Mr. Rubio wrote, noting they were “green card holders living lavishly in the United States.”According to the State Department, while living in the United States, Ms. Afshar “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 terrorist organization.”The department added that Ms. Afshar “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,” further cementing her status as an “outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran.”The Department of Homeland Security said that Ms. Afshar entered the United States on a tourist visa in June 2015, received asylum in 2019, and secured a green card in 2021. Her daughter arrived on a student visa in 2015, obtained asylum in 2019, and received a green card in 2023.However, a DHS spokesman told Fox News, “In July 2025, she filed a naturalization application where she disclosed she traveled to Iran at least four times since being issued a green card. Her trips to Iran illustrate her asylum claims were fraudulent.”“It is a privilege to be granted a green card to live in the United States of America,” the spokesman added. “If we have reason to believe a green card holder poses a threat to the U.S., the green card will be revoked.” Ms. Afshar’s husband has also been barred from entering the country.Qasem Soleimani’s daughter, Narjes Soleimani, strongly disputed the U.S. government’s claims. “The individuals arrested in the US have no connection whatsoever to Martyr Soleimani and the claims made by the US State Department are false,” she said in a statement. She claimed the United States has “become so weak and insignificant … by fabricating lies against a great figure.”General Soleimani was killed in a January 2020 American airstrike at Baghdad. Reflecting on the strike recently, President Trump said, “I killed Gen Qasem Soleimani in my first term. He was an evil genius, brilliant person, a horrible human being; however, he was the father of the roadside bomb, and he lived just horrible, what he did,” suggesting Iran would be “perhaps in a far better, stronger position” if he had survived.The arrests follow broader administrative actions against individuals tied to the Iranian government. Earlier this month, the State Department revoked the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, daughter of a former Iranian official, and her husband. In December, visas for several Iranian diplomats were also revoked “for privacy and security reasons.”As the State Department announcement concluded, “The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.”

ICE Arrests Relatives of Slain Iranian General Qasem Soleimani Pending Deportation

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