Federal law enforcement officers arrested family members of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qasem Soleimani on Friday night after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their green cards.
Rubio removed the lawful permanent resident status of Soleimani’s niece and grand niece this week over their ties to and support for the Iranian regime, with whom the U.S. is at war. The two are now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and waiting for deportation after their arrest in Los Angeles.
“Until recently, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter were green card holders living lavishly in the United States,” Rubio wrote on X. “Afshar is the niece of deceased Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. She is also an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the ‘Great Satan.’”
The State Department said Afshar supported Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and promoted propaganda published by the Iranian regime. The agency also said she has “celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East.”
Rubio also barred Afshar’s husband from entering the United States.
The move comes over six years after President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike killing Soleimani in a move that drastically altered the power structure of the Guard and heightened tensions between Trump and Iran, which bled into Trump’s second term.
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Soleimani’s relatives are not the only Guard relatives the State Department has eyed within the U.S. Rubio also revoked the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of former Iranian national security council secretary Ali Larjani, who was killed in an Israeli strike during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The State Department also revoked the visa of her husband, Seyed Kalantar Motamedi.
Immigration officers removed both Ardeshir-Larijani and Motamedi from the U.S. and barred them from re-entering.
