Relatives of one of Iran's most notorious military figures have lost their foothold in the US. Federal agents arrested Hamideh Soleimani Afshar—niece of slain commander Qasem Soleimani—and her daughter after their green cards were revoked, the State Department announced Saturday.
- "Until recently, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter were green card holders living lavishly in the United States," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. "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.' 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."
State Department officials, who cited Afshar's Instagram account as evidence of her "lavish" lifestyle, also said she expressed "unflinching support" for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Guardian reports. Her husband has been permanently barred from entering the country. The move comes on the heels of Rubio's earlier decision to strip US legal status from Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani—the daughter of a former top Iranian security official—and her husband, who have left the US and now face a lifetime entry ban. Rubio said the administration will not let the country serve as a haven for foreign nationals who support "anti-American terrorist regimes."
Soleimani was killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2020. President Trump spoke about him in his address to the nation Wednesday night, the BBC reports. "I killed Gen Qasem Soleimani in my first term. He was an evil genius, brilliant person, a horrible human being however, the father of the roadside bomb, and he lived just horrible, what he did," Trump said. He added that if Soleimani had survived, Iran might be "perhaps in a far better, stronger position" in the war.
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