The U.S. State Department announced Saturday that it has revoked the green cards of three more Iranian citizens and placed them in the custody of federal immigration agents over allegations they had ties to an Iranian woman who was a “key propagandist” for “violent Islamists.”
Three Iranians were arrestedSyed Isa Hashmi, Maryam Tahmasebi and their son, were located in the Los Angeles area, and are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Their arrests come amid an escalating immigration crackdown by the Trump administration to strip permanent lawful residence status from Iranians with alleged ties to the Islamic regime, which so far has included arresting relatives of prominent Iranian figures.
Hashemi is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, who gained fame as a spokesman for the terrorists who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 in support of the Islamic revolution, the State Department said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media Rubio said the Obama administration granted Ebtekar’s son and his family visas to enter the U.S. They received lawful permanent residence in June 2016.
Rubio’s social media posts and the State Department release did not note any crimes committed by the three men leading to their arrest, other than their blood ties.
“Her family should never be allowed to benefit from the extraordinary privilege of living in our country,” Rubio said in a post on Twitter. “America can never be home to anti-American terrorists or their families – and under the Trump administration, it never will be.”
The State Department a week earlier announced similar arrests of two Los Angeles-based relatives of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qassem Suleimaniya, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2020.
