LOS ANGELES (Diya TV) — U.S. authorities have detained Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their lawful permanent resident status, according to the State Department and Reuters. Officials said both women are now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and are facing removal proceedings.
The Trump administration has described Afshar as the niece of Qasem Soleimani, the late Iranian military commander killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad in January 2020. Reuters reported that Iranian state media later pushed back on that claim, citing Iranian officials and family members who said the detained woman had no family ties to Soleimani.
According to Reuters, the State Department said Afshar and her daughter were arrested Friday after Rubio terminated their green cards. Officials also said Afshar’s husband has been barred from entering the United States. Reuters reported that the government did not publicly specify the exact location of the arrests, though the State Department said Afshar had been living in Los Angeles.
The administration has tied the action to Afshar’s alleged public support for the Iranian government and its messaging. Reuters reported that the State Department accused her of supporting Iran’s government and propaganda, while other reports said officials pointed to social media posts praising Iran’s leadership and hostile actions against U.S. forces. Those allegations have been made by U.S. officials; the publicly available reporting reviewed here does not show a court finding on those claims.
Claims circulating online that she was arrested specifically for posts supporting attacks on Gulf states are not clearly established in the strongest public reporting I found. The more consistently reported allegation is that U.S. officials accused her of promoting Iranian regime propaganda and praising threats or attacks directed at the United States and Iranian dissidents.
The detentions come amid a broader hardline push by the administration against foreign nationals it says have ties to the Iranian regime. Reuters reported that Rubio also moved earlier this month against Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, identified by the State Department as the daughter of Iranian politician Ali Larijani, and her husband; officials said both are no longer in the United States and are barred from reentry.
The case has quickly drawn attention because of the geopolitical symbolism around Soleimani’s name and because of the dispute over whether Afshar is actually related to him. For now, the confirmed facts are narrower: U.S. officials revoked the women’s legal status, ICE took them into custody, and the administration says deportation proceedings are underway. The family connection and the full scope of the allegations remain contested in public reporting.
