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qasem soleimani
On Conspiracy Theorist Laura Loomer's Orders, Rubio Announces Arrest of 2 Women for Supporting Iran
The State Department said the women were related to the assassinated Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, but Iranian media said they had no connection to him.
Apr 04, 2026
With a majority of Americans including President Donald Trump's own base demanding a swift end to the war in Iran—and Iran's military capabilities proving difficult to overpower—observers suggested on Saturday that the White House was looking elsewhere to score "victories," as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that federal agents had arrested relatives of the late Major General Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian military commander who the US assassinated in 2020 during President Donald Trump's first term.
Rubio accused Soleimani's niece, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, of promoting "regime propaganda" and voicing support for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and said she had been living a "lavish lifestyle" in the US. Afshar's husband has been barred from entering the US and the lawful permanent resident status she and her daughter had has been terminated, said the State Department.
"Are we losing so badly we need to arrest the distant relatives of long-since-dead Iranian commanders?" asked Ryan Grim of Drop Site News.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council noted that the administration had used the same legal authority to arrest Soleimani's reported family members as it did to detain former Columbia University student organizer Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University scholar Rümeysa Öztürk for speaking out against US support for Israel—a tactic which is being challenged in court as unconstitutional.
Far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who has wielded influence in the White House during the second Trump administration, claimed credit for the arrest of the two women, saying that in communications with the State Department, she had "exposed the fact that Qasem Soleimani’s Niece Hamideh Soleimani Afshar has been living in the United States (Los Angeles, California) where she posts pro-Iranian regime and pro-IRGC content on her social media while she lives a life of luxury."
"She has been arrested and will be deported back to Iran!" she added. "Over the last few months, I have quietly been documenting all of Hamideh Soleimani Afshar’s social media activity. I uploaded it all to a secure file and shared it with [the Department of Homeland Security] and Department of State, and now she has been arrested and she will be deported from our country."
In Iran on Saturday, media outlets were reporting that the two women arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement were not related to Soleimani—who had no nieces, according to journalist Kourosh Ziabari.
Soleimani's daughter told the news outlet Jamaran that "none" of her extended family has ever lived in the US.
Regardless of the women's relation to Soleimani or lack thereof, journalist Ryan Grim said the arbitrary arrest "actively puts innocent Americans around the world at risk."
Rubio's explanation for the detention and his move to revoke the women's green cards is the latest evidence that "the US is now deporting people for thought crimes," said historian Zachary Foster.
Journalist Sana Saeed said the case shows that constitutional protections for due process and free speech, which are supposed to apply to green card holders, "no longer mean anything."
"People cannot lose their green card status simply because of familial relationships, so the justification shifts here to their alleged support for the Iranian government," said Saeed. "But supporting a foreign government is not a criminal offense. And if you begin to treat it as one—as the US government effectively is in this case—then expect a lot more of this."
"It will not stop here, and it will not remain limited to Iranians," she said. "The logic does not contain itself, it expands."
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Trump Condemned for 'Genocidal' Threat to Destroy Iran
"Trump's threat to blow Iran's largest cities and the country itself 'to smithereens' is an outrageous threat that should be widely condemned," said the National Iranian American Council.
Sep 25, 2024
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's threat on Wednesday to blow Iran "to smithereens" if he returns to power was condemned by a leading Iranian American advocacy group as "genocidal."
Trump—the 2024 Republican nominee—addressed a campaign rally in North Carolina on Wednesday after he was reportedly briefed about alleged Iranian assassination threats against him.
"If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country—in this case, Iran—that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens," he said to raucous applause. "We're gonna blow it to smithereens, you can't do that. And there would be no more threats."
Responding to the former president's remarks, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) said in a statement that "Trump's threat to blow Iran's largest cities and the country itself 'to smithereens' is an outrageous threat that should be widely condemned as psychotic and genocidal."
"Just like his threat to target 52 of Iran's most cherished cultural sites, Trump appears disturbingly willing to kill millions of Iranians who have no say over the actions of their authoritarian government," NIAC continued. "These remarks should be disqualifying for a man vying to once again be commander in chief and have sole authority over launching nuclear weapons with the power to make good on his horrifying threat."
"Likewise, we unequivocally condemn any Iranian threats that may be targeted at Trump or former officials," the group added. "Political violence must be rejected and prevented in all forms. Assassinations are a path to war and human suffering, as was demonstrated by the strike on [Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen.] Qasem Soleimani that engendered these threats, and risk further embroiling the region in violence."
Trump ordered the January 2020 airstrike that killed Soleimani in Iraq. He also unilaterally withdrew from the so-called Iran nuclear deal and ramped up sanctions on Tehran, exacerbating Iran's economic woes.
While Trump is known for his boastful and sometimes empty claims, as president he also followed through on his 2016 campaign promise to "bomb the shit out of" Islamic State fighters and "take out their families," resulting in thousands of civilian casualties in countries including Iraq and Syria.
Although Trump often presents himself as the peace candidate, critics have warned voters not to be fooled.
"He's a liar. C'mon, you know he doesn't tell the truth at all," Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)—the only member of either legislative chamber who voted against authorizing the so-called War on Terror in 2001—said in a recent interview with The Nation.
"Just look at his record, who he cozies up to in terms of dictators," Lee added. "He wants more investment in the military budget. What his strategy is, is to create a more dangerous world."
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Middle East on 'Precipice of a Full-Blown Regional War' After Iran Blasts
"This is a very dangerous moment," wrote one analyst. "A regionwide war appears more likely by the day."
Jan 03, 2024
While it remains uncertain who was responsible for the two explosions that killed over 100 people and injured hundreds more in the Iranian city of Kerman on Wednesday, analysts warned that the blasts increased the already high risk of an all-out regional war involving Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, Hamas, and
the United States.
The explosions, which Iran's vice president blamed on Israel, came a day after an alleged Israeli drone strike killed a senior Hamas official in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, ratcheting up tensions with Hezbollah, whose leader vowed "a response and punishment." Last month, Israel assassinated a senior adviser in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with an airstrike in Syria.
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement Wednesday that "we deplore this latest terrorist attack to strike inside of Iran" and called the explosions "the latest stark reminder that the U.S., Iran, and Israel remain on the precipice of a full-blown regional war that would be disastrous to all actors, including civilian populations across the region."
"We urge the U.S. to condemn this attack and express solidarity with the people of Iran," said Abdi. "We also reiterate our call on the U.S. to move with urgency to de-escalate and pursue a lasting cease-fire between Israel and Palestine, and to support broader regional diplomacy, before the crisis spirals fully out of control."
During a press briefing on Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller expressed condolences for the victims of the blasts in Iran and denied any U.S. involvement. Miller also said he has "no reason to believe that Israel was involved."
The Kerman explosions took place during an event commemorating Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, whom the U.S. assassinated with a drone strike in 2020.
Citing Iranian officials' comments to state media, The New York Times reported that "a pair of bombs placed in bags along the road toward the cemetery in Kerman, Iran had exploded as a procession of people was on its way there to commemorate the four-year anniversary of Gen. Soleimani's assassination by the United States."
"The officials said the bags appeared to have been detonated via remote control, leaving bodies in pieces on the ground," the Times added.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, warned that "this is a very dangerous moment," pointing to the Iran blasts, the reported Israeli drone strike in Beirut, and Israel's assassination of a top IRGC official—all of which came amid Israel's devastating U.S.-backed assault on the Gaza Strip.
"A regionwide war appears more likely by the day," Parsi wrote.
No group has claimed responsibility for the Kerman attack as of this writing. Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, pledged a "harsh response" and "just punishment" for those behind the deadly blasts.
The Associated Press noted Wednesday that "Sunni extremist groups including the Islamic State... have conducted large-scale attacks in the past that killed civilians in Shiite-majority Iran."
Arash Azizi, a historian and fellow at the Center for Middle East and Global Order, argued in a column for The National that "based on the available evidence so far, given the target and the methods used, ISIS, especially its much-feared regional branch in Afghanistan, known as ISKP, are likely culprits behind the attack."
"Several experts, on both ISIS and Iran, that I've spoken to agree on this point, although, at the moment, this is mostly educated speculation," he wrote.
Azizi noted that "while Israel has a long track record of operating on Iranian soil, it has usually targeted IRGC figures or nuclear scientists."
"There is no precedent for it conducting this kind of mass attack on Iranian civilians," Azizi added, pointing out that Iranian media "has reported there were no IRGC generals amongst the casualties or injured."
This story has been updated to include new details of the Kerman explosions and expert reactions.
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