The US State Department has confirmed the arrest of the niece and grand-niece of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, General Qasem Soleimani.
Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter had their lawful US permanent resident status revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a statement issued on Saturday.
However, Soleimani’s daughter, Narjes Soleimani, rejected the State Department’s claims, insisting that the detained women “have no connection whatsoever” to her father.
Soleimani, who was considered Iran’s most influential military figure, was killed in a 2020 US airstrike in Iraq, authorized by former President Donald Trump.
Rubio indicated on social media that the two women are being held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pending deportation from the country.
In a statement on X, Rubio described Soleimani Afshar and her daughter as “green card holders living lavishly in the United States.”
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) noted that Soleimani Afshar entered the US on a tourist visa in 2015, was granted asylum in 2019, and received her green card in 2021.
According to DHS, while applying for naturalization in 2025, Soleimani Afshar disclosed that she had traveled to Iran four times since obtaining her green card.
The DHS characterized these visits as evidence that her asylum application was fraudulent.
Her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, entered the US on a student visa in 2015, later received asylum in 2019, and was granted a green card in 2023, according to DHS.
The State Department described Soleimani Afshar as a vocal supporter of Iran’s “totalitarian, terrorist regime” and accused her of sharing “Iranian regime propaganda” on social media.
Soleimani Afshar’s husband has also been barred from entering the US, though the department did not disclose his name.
In a public statement, Narjes Soleimani strongly denied the US allegations, saying, “The individuals arrested in the US have no connection whatsoever to Martyr Soleimani and the claims made by the US State Department are false.”
She added that the US had “become so weak and insignificant” and accused it of “fabricating lies against a great figure.”
The BBC reached out to the State Department for further comment, but officials stated they had “nothing to add.”
During his time as head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Soleimani led the country’s military operations across the Middle East.
He was 62 when he was killed at Baghdad airport alongside other Iran-backed militia leaders.
Trump mentioned Soleimani during a national address on Wednesday, reflecting on the airstrike he ordered.
“I killed Gen Qasem Soleimani in my first term. He was an evil genius, brilliant person, a horrible human being however, the father of the roadside bomb, and he lived just horrible, what he did,” Trump said.
He added that Iran might have been “perhaps in a far better, stronger position” in the conflict had Soleimani survived.