Three Iranian nationals linked to the Iranian regime have been arrested and had their green cards revoked by the U.S. government. The U.S. Department of State announced the action on Saturday, identifying the individuals as Seyed Eissa Hashemi, Maryam Tahmasebi, and their son. Federal agents arrested them after Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated their lawful permanent resident (LPR) statuses. They are now held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending removal from the country. The trio entered the United States in 2014 on visas issued during the Obama administration and were granted LPR status in June 2016 through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program.
Seyed Eissa Hashemi is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, known as "Screaming Mary," who served as a spokesperson for the militants who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The State Department described Ebtekar as a key propagandist who staged media appearances to falsely depict humane treatment of hostages while they endured isolation, blindfolding, starvation, beatings, and mock executions. The green card issuance occurred months after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps captured 10 U.S. Navy sailors in 2016. The Trump administration has since suspended new diversity visas.
The State Department also confirmed recent actions against other Iranian-linked individuals, including Hamideh Afshar Soleimani and her daughter, relatives of the late IRGC General Qasem Soleimani, who are now in ICE custody. Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, daughter of former Iranian official Ali Larijani, and her husband Seyed Kalantar Motamedi have been removed from the U.S. and barred from re-entry.
