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Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter’s lawful US permanent resident status was revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a statement released on Saturday said.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”.

The state department said Soleimani Afsha was an “outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran” and had promoted “Iranian regime propaganda” on her social media account.

Soleimani Afshar’s husband has also been barred from the US, the statement said. The state department did not name Soleimani Afshar’s daughter or husband.

In a statement, Narjes Soleimani, Soleimani’s daughter, said: “The individuals arrested in the US have no connection whatsoever to Martyr Soleimani and the claims made by the US State Department are false.”

She added that the US had “become so weak and insignificant that by fabricating lies against a great figure”.

Soleimani spearheaded Iranian military operations in the Middle East as head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

The 62-year-old was killed at Baghdad airport, along with other Iran-backed militia figures.

Trump spoke about Soleimani during his national address on Wednesday, referencing the strike he ordered on the commander.

“I killed Gen Qasem Soleimani in my first term. He was an evil genius, brilliant person, a horrible human being however, the father of the roadside bomb, and he lived just horrible, what he did,” Trump said.

He added that Iran would have been “perhaps in a far better, stronger position” in the war if Soleimani was still alive. (BBC)