U.S. federal agents have detained the niece and grand-niece of late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their lawful permanent resident status, the State Department said on Saturday.
"Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement," the State Department said in a statement, adding that Rubio revoked their residency status, also known as a green card.
The State Department did not say where the arrests occurred. The statement said the pair were arrested on Friday and that Afshar had been "enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles" that was documented on her recently deleted Instagram account.
The State Department said Afshar supported Iran's government and its propaganda. It also said Afshar's husband was barred from entering the United States.
She is "an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the "Great Satan," Rubio said in a post on X.
"The Trump administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes", he added.
The detention came as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran entered its sixth week.
Iranian news agencies reported on Saturday that Soleimani's daughter, Narjes Soleimani, said the late Iranian military commander's family and relatives have never lived in the U.S. and that he had two nephews, not nieces.
Soleimani was killed in a January 2020 U.S. airstrike in Baghdad during President Donald Trump's first term in office.
The State Department added that earlier this month, Rubio terminated the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of veteran Iranian politician Ali Larijani, and her husband Seyed Kalantar Motamedi. Ardeshir-Larijani and Motamedi are no longer in the United States and are barred from entry, according to the State Department.
Ali Larijani, an architect of Iran's security policy, was killed in mid-March by a U.S.-Israeli air attack.
In his second term in office, Trump's administration has stepped up deportation efforts against immigrants, calling them threats. Rights advocates have raised concerns about free speech and due process. Many immigrants detained by ICE have been released following court orders.
In early December, well before the surge of anti-government protests in Iran and the start of the war, the State Department revoked or declined to renew visas of several Iranian diplomats, including the deputy ambassador, and staffers at Iran's mission to the United Nations.
The Iranian mission to the UN had no comment Saturday.
