The United States has grown weary of the Iranian elite sending their families to the United States, while at the same time making no secret of the fact that they praise the regime. On Friday, federal police arrested the niece of the legendary general Soleimani, whom Trump had killed at the airport in Baghdad in January 2020. Iran was shocked. They had not believed that anyone would dare to touch Soleimani.
This should be borne in mind when assessing the bombing campaign against Iran. It is not the first time the regime has made the acquaintance of Trump.
Soleimani’s niece and her daughter were arrested in Los Angeles, where they have been living in great comfort and praising the Iranian regime.
The niece is named Hamideh Soleimani Afshar. The State Department has grown weary of all those who praise their adversary. They are at war.
The Trump administration asserts that Afshar has been a supporter of Iran’s “totalitarian, terrorist” regime.
“Afshar is the niece of the late Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani,” Rubio wrote on X. “She is also an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime, which has praised attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the ‘Great Satan.’”
“This week I revoked both Afshar’s and her daughter’s residence permits, and they are now in ICE custody pending deportation from the United States,” Rubio wrote on Saturday.
In January 2020, Soleimani was killed in a United States airstrike in Baghdad during President Donald Trump’s first term.
While residing in the United States, “Afshar promoted propaganda for the Iranian regime, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military installations in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, condemned America as the ‘Great Satan’, and expressed her unwavering support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a terrorist organisation that is listed,” the State Department said.
“[Afshar] promoted this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as evidenced by her frequent posts on her recently deleted Instagram account,” the department said.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE officers arrested Afshar and her daughter on Friday in Los Angeles. DHS stated that Afshar entered the United States on a tourist visa in June 2015, was granted asylum in 2019, and became a holder of a residence card in 2021 under the Biden administration.
“In July 2025, she submitted an application for naturalisation in which she stated that she had travelled to Iran at least four times since she was granted residence. Her travels to Iran show that her asylum application was false,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News.
Her daughter entered the United States on a student visa in July 2015, was granted asylum in 2019, and became a holder of a green card in 2023, according to DHS. “It is a privilege to be granted residence in order to live in the United States,” the spokesperson added. “If we have reason to believe that a person with residence constitutes a threat to the United States, the residence permit will be revoked.”
One should not disregard the possibility that the State Department may have had a different scenario in mind: A relative of Soleimani may serve as a valuable bargaining chip if the Iranians succeed in apprehending the pilot who ejected.
If the Iranians play “hardball” and present him on television and humiliate him, the Americans may do the same.
The elite have had no scruples about enjoying life with the “Great Satan”. That is now at an end.
Earlier this month, the State Department also revoked the residence permit of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani – the daughter of a former senior Iranian official – and her husband.
They are no longer in the United States, and both are subject to a ban on entry.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-arrests-relatives-slain-iranian-general-soleimani-living-us-rubio-revokes-green-cards