The US claims to have detained relatives of the late Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Eight hours earlier. Brandon Livesay. Images from Getty. The U.S. State Department has announced the arrest of the niece and grand-niece of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the late commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the lawful permanent resident status of Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, according to a statement issued on Saturday. However, Soleimani’s daughter has rejected the State Department’s allegations as untrue, asserting that the detained women “have no connection whatsoever” to her father. Soleimani, Iran’s top military figure, was killed in a 2020 U.S. airstrike in Iraq ordered by then-President Donald Trump. Follow live updates on the US-Israel war with Iran. On social media, Rubio stated that the two women were detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awaiting deportation. In his X post, he described Soleimani Afshar and her daughter as “green card holders living lavishly in the United States.” According to a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement to BBC’s US partner CBS News, Soleimani Afshar entered the US on a tourist visa in 2015, received asylum in 2019, and obtained a green card in 2021. When applying for naturalization in 2025, she disclosed four trips to Iran since getting her green card, per the DHS. “Her visits to Iran prove her asylum claims were fraudulent,” the DHS declared. The DHS further noted that Soleimani Afshar’s daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, arrived in the US on a student visa in 2015, was granted asylum in 2019, and received a green card in 2023. The State Department labeled Soleimani Afshar an “outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran” who spread “Iranian regime propaganda” on her social media. Her husband has also been banned from the US, the statement added. The State Department did not identify Soleimani Afshar’s husband. In a statement, Narjes Soleimani, daughter of Soleimani, declared: “The individuals detained in the US have absolutely no link to Martyr Soleimani, and the US State Department’s assertions are untrue.” She stated that the US had “become so weak and insignificant” and was “fabricating lies against a great figure.” The BBC reached out to the State Department for additional comment, but it replied that it had “nothing to add.” Soleimani led Iranian military operations in the Middle East as commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force. The 62-year-old was killed at Baghdad airport, along with other figures from Iran-backed militias. Trump mentioned Soleimani in his national address on Wednesday, referring to the strike he ordered on the commander. “I killed Gen Qasem Soleimani in my first term.”
