State department said niece and grandniece of Qassem Soleimani, killed in 2020 US drone strike, celebrated attacks against US soldiers
US federal agents have arrested the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after the Trump administration’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, revoked their lawful permanent resident status, officials said on Saturday.
“Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” or ICE, the state department said in a statement.
In his own statement on social media, Rubio, the US secretary of state, confirmed that the mother-daughter pair are “pending removal” from the US, a development that came after the US and Israeli militaries began waging war on Iran in late February, in part citing an Iranian history of terrorism sponsorship.
Saturday’s development with respect to Soleimani Afshar also came as the Trump administration has sought to revoke the legal immigration statuses of people it has determined to be aligned with enemies of the US.
