Relatives of Qassem Soleimani arrested in US

Two family members of assassinated Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani have been arrested in the United States after their residency permits were rescinded.

"Last night, the niece and grand niece of deceased Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qassem Soleimani were arrested by federal agents following Secretary of State Marco Rubio's termination of their lawful permanent resident (LPR) status," a US State Department spokesperson said on Saturday.

"Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

Soleimani, who led the Quds Force faction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in a US drone strike while he was in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in January 2020.

His targeted convoy was also carrying a number of senior Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) leaders. 

The deputy head of the PMU, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, also died in the attack.

Soleimani was appointed to lead the Quds Force in 1997 by then IRGC commander-in-chief Yahya Rahim Safavi.

Quds Force is an elite branch of the Revolutionary Guard, formed in the early 1980s and tasked with overseas operations in the Middle East and beyond.       

"As identified by both press reporting and her own social media commentary, Soleimani Afshar is an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran," the State Department said.

It also claimed she had "praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader" Mojtaba Khamenei and "denounced America as the 'Great Satan'".

The statement also said her husband had been barred from entering the United States.

The daughter and son-in-law of another slain Iranian official, security chief Ali Larijani, have also had their legal status terminated and both "are no longer in the United States and are barred from future entry".

Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was killed on 17 March in an Israeli strike.