US says it has arrested relatives of late Iranian ​general Qasem ​Soleimani

The niece and grand-niece of the deceased commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Gen Qasem Soleimani, have been arrested, the US state department has said. Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter's lawful US permanent resident status was revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a statement released on Saturday said. However, Soleimani's daughter has called the state department's claims false, saying the arrested individuals "have no connection whatsoever" to her father. Soleimani, who was Iran's most powerful military commander, was killed in 2020 in a US air strike in Iraq which was ordered by then US President Donald Trump. In a post on social media, Rubio said the two women were in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), pending removal from the country. He added in the statement on X that Soleimani Afshar and her daughter were "green card holders living lavishly in the United States". After entering the US on a tourist visa in 2015, Soleimani Afshar was granted asylum in 2019 and became a green card holder in 2021, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement to the BBC's US partner CBS News. In filing for a naturalisati