U.S. Department of State said Saturday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the lawful permanent resident status of three Iranian nationals who were later arrested by federal agents.
According to the State Department, Seyed Eissa Hashemi, Maryam Tahmasebi and their son are now in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and face removal from the United States.
The department said Hashemi is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, who served as a spokeswoman for the militants involved in the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The statement said Ebtekar later held senior posts in Iran’s government, including serving as a vice president from 2017 to 2021.
State Department officials said Hashemi, Tahmasebi and their son entered the United States in 2014 on visas issued during the Obama administration. According to the statement, they were granted lawful permanent resident status in June 2016 through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program.
The department also said Rubio last week revoked the legal status of the niece and grandniece of former Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, and that both are now in ICE custody. It added that Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, daughter of former Iranian official Ali Larijani, and her husband, Seyed Kalantar Motamedi, are no longer in the United States and are barred from returning.
The State Department thanked the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for their cooperation. It said the Trump administration will not allow the United States to become a home for foreign nationals tied to what it described as anti-American regimes.
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