The U.S. State Department has announced the arrest of Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, the niece and grand-niece of the late General Qasem Soleimani, citing ties to Iran’s regime and terrorist activities.
Their lawful U.S. permanent resident status was revoked by Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the pair are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), pending deportation, according to a statement released Saturday.
The State Department described Soleimani Afshar as an “outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran,” accusing her of spreading Iranian government propaganda on social media. Her husband has also been barred from entering the United States, though their identities were not fully disclosed.
Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, who were green card holders reportedly living lavishly in the U.S., are connected to General Soleimani, the late Iranian military commander, killed in a 2020 U.S. airstrike in Iraq ordered by then-President, Donald Trump. Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, was a central figure in Iran-backed militias across the Middle East and was widely regarded as Tehran’s most powerful military strategist.
President Trump had previously described Soleimani as “an evil genius” and a major force behind Iran’s regional military operations, asserting that Iran might have been stronger if the commander were still alive.
The arrests mark the latest in U.S. actions targeting relatives and associates of Soleimani over alleged links to Iranian state-backed terrorism.
