The Trump administration has revoked the green cards or U.S. visas of at least four Iranian nationals connected to the current or former Iranian government, including two who have been detained by immigration authorities and are set for deportation.
These latest actions were taken this week when Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined the individuals were no longer eligible for lawful permanent resident status or to enter the United States.
This follows a move late last year in which visas for several diplomats and staffers at Iran’s mission to the United Nations were also rescinded.
In a statement on Saturday, the State Department confirmed that Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, niece of Qassem Soleimani – the former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps chief killed in a 2020 U.S. airstrike near Baghdad airport – and her daughter were arrested late Friday by immigration agents after Rubio revoked their green cards.
“Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the statement said, adding that Afshar’s husband has also been banned from entering the United States.
Afshar and her daughter had been living a “lavish lifestyle” in Los Angeles for many years while publicly supporting the Iranian government and anti-American attacks, according to the statement.
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.”
The Iranian mission to the U.N. had no comment Saturday.
Afshar and her daughter are just the latest Iranians to have their legal status in the U.S. rescinded by Rubio.
He recently revoked the visas of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, an academic and daughter of Iran’s former national security adviser Ali Larijani, who was killed in a U.S.-Israel airstrike last month. Her husband, Seyed Kalantar Motamedi, also had his visa revoked, the State Department said.
Neither is still in the U.S.
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 department said Friday that action had been taken on Dec. 4 but declined to comment further “for privacy and security reasons” except to note that it was unrelated to either the protests or the war.
