Iranian common’s kinfolk lived lavish L.A. life-style whereas selling ‘Iranian regime propaganda’

Two Los Angeles-based kinfolk of a deceased Iranian chief have been arrested by immigration brokers after one in every of them extolled Iranian management and denigrated the United States and each repeatedly posted pictures and movies depicting a decidedly Western life-style, in accordance with federal authorities and screenshots of the 2 ladies’s social media accounts.

Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter Sarinasadat Hosseiny have been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers Friday and had their inexperienced playing cards revoked, Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned in a press release over the weekend, citing particularly Afshar’s “outspoken” assist of the “totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran.”

Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are the niece and grand-niece, respectively, of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a drone strike launched within the final days of President Trump’s first time period, Rubio mentioned. The common’s daughter has disputed the household connection, in accordance with Iranian media, which has quoted a press release attributed to her saying that the 2 ladies bear no relation to the overall and that the State Department’s claims are a “lie.”

Soleimani Afshar’s posts on Instagram and Twitter, captured and republished by quite a few information shops, level to no less than the looks of a lifetime of luxurious. Soleimani Afshar recurrently printed pictures and movies of herself in what look like designer garments, partaking in actions related to wealth, together with driving in a Hummer and posing for glamour photographs in brief clothes. Her daughter posted pictures in an identical, although at instances extra sexually provocative, vein.

None of the social media accounts seemed to be lively, or their outdated posts accessible, as of Monday afternoon.

The irony was not misplaced on some social media denizens who blasted Soleimani Afshar’s purported assist for a regime that restricts ladies from exhibiting a lot as hair in public whereas she confirmed that and extra on social media.

“She hates America,” one person commented on an Instagram publish about Soleimani Afshar and Hosseiny’s arrests. “I can’t wait to see what she wears back home.”

A Los Angeles man who mentioned he met Soleimani Afshar via a mutual acquaintance lauded her arrest, saying he had lengthy believed that Soleimani Afshar and her daughter “do not deserve to live in the U.S.” due to Soleimani Afshar’s pro-Iranian statements on social media.

“They don’t like it in America — they shouldn’t be here,” Maziar Aflaki informed The Times in an interview, making clear he’s a critic of the present Iranian regime.

Aflaki mentioned Soleimani Afshar had referred to as him a few week in the past asking for recommendation as a result of the FBI had contacted her with questions on the place she lived. He additionally mentioned Soleimani Afshar had beforehand proven him pictures of her subsequent to high-ranking folks within the Iranian navy, stating that one in every of them was her uncle.

Rubio said in the statement that, whereas within the U.S., Soleimani Afshar “promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the ‘Great Satan,’ and voiced her unflinching support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organization.” She did all this, he continued, “while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account.”

Rubio added: “The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.”

Soleimani Afshar got here to the U.S. in 2015 on a vacationer visa and was granted asylum in 2019 and bought her inexperienced card in 2021, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis beforehand mentioned. Since then, she traveled to Iran 4 instances, disclosing the knowledge in her utility final 12 months to turn into a citizen, Bis mentioned. Hosseiny got here to the U.S. on a pupil visa and was additionally granted asylum in 2019, then bought her inexperienced card in 2023, Bis mentioned.

Soleimani Afshar’s journeys to Iran demonstrated her claims to wish asylum in Iran have been “fraudulent,” the Department of Homeland Security wrote in a press release on X.

Soleimani Afshar and Hosseiny are being held in an ICE facility in Pearsall, Texas, in accordance with a searchable database of detainees.