Washington — The Trump administration has revoked the green cards or U.S. visas of at least four Iranian nationals associated with the current or former Iranian government, including two who were arrested by immigration authorities and scheduled to be deported.
The latest measures were taken just this week when Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined they were no longer eligible for lawful permanent resident status or entry into the United States. These steps follow a move late last year in which the visas of several diplomats and employees of Iran’s mission to the United Nations were cancelled.
The niece and granddaughter of former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike near Baghdad airport in 2020, were detained late Friday by immigration agents after Rubio revoked their green cards, the State Department said in a statement on Saturday.
“Hamida Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the statement said, adding that Afshar’s husband has also been banned from entering the United States.
According to the statement, Afshar and her daughter had been living a “lavish lifestyle” in Los Angeles for many years while openly supporting the Iranian government and anti-American attacks.
“She is an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime that has 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 home to foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.”
The Iranian mission to the United Nations had no comment on Saturday.
Afshar and her daughter are the latest Iranians to have their legal status in the United States revoked by Rubio, who recently revoked the visas of Fatemeh Ardeshir Larijani, an academic and the daughter of former Iranian National Security Advisor Ali Larijani who was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike last month. Her husband, Syed Kalantar Motamedi, also had his visa cancelled, the Foreign Ministry said. Neither of them remains in the United States
In early December, long before anti-government protests in Iran escalated and the war began, the State Department canceled or refused to renew the visas of several Iranian diplomats, including the deputy ambassador and staff at Iran’s mission to the United Nations.
The ministry said on Friday that the action was taken on December 4 but declined to comment further “for privacy and security reasons” other than to note that it was not related to the protests or war.
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AP reporter Farnoush Amiri contributed to this story.