Iran: US arrests Qassem Soleimani’s relatives in Los Angeles

US federal agents have apprehended the niece and grandniece of the deceased Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani following the revocation of their lawful permanent resident status by Marco Rubio, the top diplomat of the Trump administration, as reported by officials on Saturday.

“Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are currently in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” commonly referred to as ICE, according to a statement from the state department.

In a statement shared on social media, Rubio, the US secretary of state, confirmed that the mother and daughter are “pending removal” from the United States. This action follows the commencement of military operations by the US and Israeli forces against Iran in late February, partly due to Iran’s history of sponsoring terrorism.

The recent actions regarding Soleimani Afshar coincide with the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke the legal immigration statuses of individuals deemed to be associated with adversaries of the United States.

Rubio’s statement emphasized that the Trump administration “will not permit our nation to serve as a refuge for foreign nationals who endorse anti-American terrorist regimes.”

Officials have accused Soleimani Afshar of celebrating military assaults on American personnel and expressing admiration for Iran’s new supreme leader after the US and Israel executed his predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a significant airstrike at the onset of the conflict. They have also charged her with referring to the US as the “Great Satan.”

The statement regarding Soleimani Afshar further asserts that she expressed “unwavering support” for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) while leading a “lavish” lifestyle in Los Angeles, with US officials citing her Instagram account as supporting evidence.

In addition to the revocation of the legal permanent resident status – commonly known as a green card – for Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, her husband has also been officially barred from entering the United States, according to officials.

The maneuvers that were announced on Saturday came after a distinct recent action by Rubio to revoke the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani – the daughter of Ali Larijani, who previously served as the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council – along with her spouse, Seyed Kalantar Motamedi. As reported by the state department, both Ardeshir-Larijani and Motamedi have since left the United States and are subject to a permanent entry ban.

Additionally, in early December, prior to the onset of the war in Iran and the anti-government protests occurring there, the US state department either revoked or chose not to renew the visas of multiple Iranian diplomats, which included Iran’s deputy ambassador and personnel from its mission to the United Nations.

Soleimani Afshar’s father – whose name is also rendered as Quassem Suleimani – was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020 at the age of 62 during Donald Trump’s initial presidency. At that time, he was widely regarded as the most powerful individual in Iran after Khamenei, and he was the country’s most significant military figure.

His prominence was linked to his leadership of the elite Quds (Jerusalem) force of the IRGC, which is the most formidable state security organization within the theocratic regime of Iran.