By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

The Soleimani Affair

The niece and grand-niece of a notorious late Iranian general have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles and had their green cards revoked.

Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, and her daughter Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25, were detained by ICE on Friday while living in Los Angeles.

Afshar had celebrated the deaths of US soldiers during President Donald Trump's ongoing war with Iran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Rubio added that the permanent resident status that allowed them to live indefinitely in the United States was revoked and that they will be deported at the first available opportunity. 

He wrote: 'Until recently, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter were green card holders living lavishly in the United States. 

It said she had '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 terrorist organization.'

'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. 

'The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.'

Afshar is pictured riding in a blue Hummer. She and her daughter lived in Los Angeles before their arrest.

Afshar's daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, was initially admitted to the country on a student visa in 2015.

Afshar had celebrated the deaths of US soldiers during President Donald Trump's ongoing war with Iran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

 

Afshar is the niece of Qasem Soleimani. 

A press release issued by the State Department further accused Afshar of 'promoting Iranian regime propaganda'.

The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that Afshar entered the US in June 2015 on a tourist visa. Hosseiny came with her mother, but on a student visa. In 2019, a judge granted both women asylum, and in 2021, they became green card holders.

DHS further stated that in a July 2025 naturalization application, Afshar disclosed that she had traveled to Iran at least four times since being issued her green card, which made her asylum claims fraudulent, DHS said.

'It is a privilege to be granted a green card to live in the United States of America. If we have reason to believe a green card holder poses a threat to the U.S., the green card will be revoked,' DHS said in a statement.

He was one of Iran's most powerful military figures and was the commander of the Qods Force when he was killed by a US Reaper drone strike ordered by President Trump at Baghdad Airport in January 2020.

A press release issued by the State Department further accused Afshar of 'promoting Iranian regime propaganda'.

Afhsar's home in Tujunga, Los Angeles, is pictured. She bought the property for $505,000 in 2021, and it is now worth $740,000.

Afshar also faced a far less severe penalty for her ranting and raving than Iranians who attack their government, with tens of thousands of protesters murdered at the orders of the Ayatollah in recent years. 

Public records list Afshar as living at a $740,000 home in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles.

She bought the house for $505,000 in September 2021 with a $365,000 mortgage.

The modest property has two bedrooms and two baths, and it is smartly decorated inside.

It sits on a hill that affords it a stunning view across the Crescenta Valley and Verdugo Mountains. 

In one video posted online, Afshar was filmed speaking in Farsi with the distinctive wall-mounted plate decorations in her living room visible in the background.  

Afshar's anti-American rhetoric stepped up in recent weeks, after President Trump began bombing Iran on February 28.

The country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was among those killed in the US-Israel bombardment, which has triggered international chaos.

On March 1, 2026, the Iranian government officially announced it. “After a lifetime of struggle,” a state broadcaster declared, “Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei drank the sweet, pure draft of martyrdom and joined the Supreme Heavenly Kingdom.” The broadcaster praised Khamenei for being “unceasing and untiring” and for his “lofty and celestial spirit.” As he read the announcement, people offscreen wailed. When he finished, he, too, broke down in tears.

Most Iranians probably didn’t cry when they learned of Khamenei’s passing. For over 35 years, Iran’s supreme leader ruled with an iron fist, repressing women, minorities, and anyone who dared challenge him. But the dramatic wording of the death announcement was, in a sense, warranted: more than anyone else, Khamenei is the architect of the Islamic Republic and all it has entailed. Although Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established theocracy by seizing power during Iran’s 1979 revolution, it was his successor who transformed it into the country it is today. It was Khamenei who ensured that the supreme leader remained Iran’s paramount authority in practice, not just in principle. It was Khamenei who pushed Iran to pursue regional hegemony, thus committing it to perpetual conflict with Israel and the United States. And it was Khamenei who transformed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), once a military with an uncertain future, into the central pillar of the government.

The Iranian elite moved quickly to name a replacement. Just over a week after his death, the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body tasked with appointing the supreme leader, announced that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, would assume the position. But speed and lineage will not prevent a power vacuum in Iran. Only the elder Khamenei had the experience and standing required to keep the regime’s various camps in check. As a result, Iran’s top officials are now lining up to chart the country’s future.

'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. 

'The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.'

Both women are related to Iranian general Qasem Soleimani (pictured above), who was killed by a US drone strike at Baghdad Airport in January 2020.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the two women's arrest and impending removal from the United States on his X account on Saturday, April 4.

 

 

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