WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration revoked the green cards or U.S. visas of at least four Iranian nationals connected to the current or former Iranian government, including two who have been detained by immigration authorities and are to be deported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that the individuals were no longer eligible for lawful permanent resident status or to enter the United States, and directed the enforcement actions.

The State Department said in a statement that the niece and grand-niece of former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Qassem Soleimani were arrested late Friday by U.S. immigration agents after Rubio revoked their green cards. Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike near the Baghdad airport in 2020.

Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the statement said. Afshar's husband has been banned from entering the United States. According to the statement, the two women had been living in Los Angeles for many years while publicly supporting the Iranian government and anti-American attacks.

"She is an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the 'Great Satan,'" Rubio posted on X. In a separate post, he wrote, "The Trump administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes."

Beyond the Soleimani relatives, Rubio also revoked the visa of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, an academic and the daughter of Ali Larijani, a former national security adviser of Iran. The visa of her husband, Seyed Kalantar Motamedi, was also revoked. Neither Ardeshir-Larijani nor Motamedi is currently in the United States.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations had no comment on Saturday. The State Department declined to provide additional details on the individual cases, citing privacy and security reasons.

In early December, the State Department revoked or declined to renew visas of several Iranian diplomats and staffers at Iran's mission to the United Nations, including the deputy ambassador. The department said at the time that the action taken on December 4 was unrelated to protests or the war.