By Jacki Thrapp
Two family members of assassinated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qasem Soleimani were arrested by federal agents on the evening of April 3.
Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, the Los Angeles-based niece and grand niece of Soleimani. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also ordered the termination of their lawful permanent resident (LPR) status.
Afshar was accused of using social media to support and spread propaganda on social media for the Iranian regime while living a “lavish lifestyle” in California.
“While living in the United States, she [Afshar] promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the ‘Great Satan,’ and voiced her unflinching support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organization,” according to a State Department press release issued on April 4.
Afshar and her daughter are in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and her husband has also been barred from visiting the United States.
“The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes,” the statement by the State Department said.
Afshar’s uncle, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qasem Soleimani, was killed in a drone strike in January 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first term.
At the time, Soleimani was Iran’s top general and the architect of the regime’s proxy wars in the region.
The then-Department of Defense accused Soleimani of “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.”
One month ago, the State Department terminated the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Larijani.
Ardeshir-Larijani was a doctor in Georgia who was dismissed from her position at the Emory University School of Medicine in January after a series of complaints from colleagues.
Ardeshir-Larijani and her husband have since left the United States. Both are barred from returning.
“Those who profit from the Iranian regime’s brutal oppression are not welcome to benefit from our immigration system,” Rubio wrote in an X post on Jan. 29.
Rubio’s latest order comes as Trump pressured Tehran on April 4 to immediately open the Strait of Hormuz.
“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
“Time is running out—48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!”
Around one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas was shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, located just south of Iran, before the United States and Israel launched a joint operation against the Iranian regime on Feb. 28.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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