ICE detains family of slain Iranian general living 'lavish' life in LA
They claimed the women were supporters of an "anti-American terrorist regime" and planned to deport them
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have arrested the niece and grandniece of late Iranian general Qassim Soleimani.
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Federal immigration agents apprehended Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, and her daughter Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25 in Los Angeles, California.
The pair also had their permanent residence rescinded, according to the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
Qassim Soleimani was the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force leader and was seen as the architect of the Iranian regime’s terror activities throughout the Middle East.
He was killed in an American air strike on Baghdad's International Airport in Iraq in January 2020.
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Mr Rubio said that Ms Soleimani Afshar, the niece of Soleimani, was “an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the ‘Great Satan’”.
The US state department claimed that Ms Soleimani Afshar “pushed regime propaganda while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles".
Speaking on the situation, Mr Rubio added: “The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes."
In a statement on Sunday, an Iranian foreign ministry official disputed the claims that the two women were relations of the late Soleimani, saying his family had never lived in the US.
The late military commander’s daughter, Narjes Soleimani, also claimed that he had two nephews, not nieces, saying the women arrested "have no connection whatsoever to Martyr Soleimani and the claims made by the US State Department are false.”
Despite this, the US State Department had already identified the pair as family members of the late general.
Both women had been granted asylum in 2019, and became a green card holder under the Biden administration in 2021.
The pair remain in the custody of ICE, pending removal from the US.