Iranian media said the Soleimani family denies the US arrest claim after two daughters of slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani rejected reports that two women arrested in the United States were their relatives. The denial came after the US State Department said a niece and a grand-niece of Soleimani had been detained and stripped of their US residency.
The US statement identified the niece as Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, while it did not name her daughter.
Iran’s Fars news agency quoted Soleimani’s daughter Zeinab as saying the US State Department’s claim was false and that the women arrested in the United States had no connection to the family.
Iranian state television also cited another daughter, Narjes, as saying that no member of Soleimani’s family or relatives had ever lived in the United States. Narjes serves on Tehran’s Islamic City Council.
The dispute centres on conflicting claims made by Washington- and Tehran-linked media. While the US State Department said the detained women were Soleimani’s niece and grand-niece, Iranian media carried direct denials from his daughters.
That contradiction adds another layer of tension to an already sensitive story involving one of Iran’s most prominent military figures.
Why Qassem Soleimani remains a major figure
Qassem Soleimani led the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and remained one of the country’s most powerful military commanders until a US drone strike killed him in Baghdad in January 2020. The strike took place during the final year of President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
His death sharply escalated tensions between the United States and Iran, which is why any claim involving his family quickly draws international attention.
