US Arrests Qasem Soleimani's Niece, Green Card Status Revoked
The US State Department has announced the arrest of the niece and grandniece of the late commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), General Qasem Soleimani. In an official statement released on Saturday local time, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the revocation of permanent resident status (green card) for both individuals.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny. Both are currently in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while awaiting deportation proceedings from the United States.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Hamideh Soleimani Afshar first entered the US on a tourist visa in 2015. She was subsequently granted asylum in 2019 and obtained a green card in 2021.
However, suspicions arose when she applied for naturalisation in 2025. In the documents, she claimed to have visited Iran four times since becoming a green card holder.
“Her trips to Iran indicate that her asylum claim was fraudulent,” the DHS stated emphatically.
In addition to suspicions of document fraud, the US State Department accuses Soleimani Afshar of being a vocal supporter of the Iranian regime and frequently promoting Tehran propaganda through her social media accounts. Besides Afshar and her daughter, Afshar’s husband has also been banned from entering US territory.
On the other hand, Qasem Soleimani’s biological daughter, Narjes Soleimani, has strongly denied the US government’s claims. She stated that the arrested individuals have no familial connection to her father.
“The individuals arrested in the US have no relation whatsoever to Martyr Soleimani, and the claims made by the US State Department are false,” Narjes Soleimani said in her official statement.
She also added that the US has become “very weak and meaningless” and thus has to “fabricate lies against a great figure.”
This firm action comes amid memories of Qasem Soleimani’s death in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2020, ordered by Donald Trump. In his recent national speech, Trump again referenced the operation.
“I killed General Qasem Soleimani during my first term. He was an evil genius, a brilliant man, but a terrible human being. He was the father of roadside bombs, and his life was truly horrific for what he did,” Trump said.
To date, legal proceedings against Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter continue as the US tightens surveillance on individuals deemed to have connections to the Iranian regime.