Trump administration arrests family of prominent spokesperson in Iranian Revolution

Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times on Apr 11, 2026

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U.S. Department of State on Saturday announced it canceled the green cards of three more Iranian nationals and placed them in custody of federal immigration agents, alleging they had ties to an Iranian woman who was "the leading propagandist" for "violent Islamists."

The three Iranians arrested, Seyed Eissa Hashemi, Maryam Tahmasebi, and their son, were based in the Los Angeles area, and are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Their arrest comes amid an escalating immigration crackdown by the Trump administration to strip permanent lawful residency status from Iranians with alleged ties to the Islamic Regime, which so far has consisted of arresting relatives of prominent Iranian figures.

Hashemi, the State Department said, is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, who gained fame as a spokeswoman for militants who stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 in support of the Islamic Revolution.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media that the Obama administration had granted visas to Ebtekar's son and his family to enter the U.S. They received lawful permanent residency in June 2016, Rubio said.

Rubio's social media posts and the State Department's release did not note any crimes by the three individuals to warrant their arrest, other than their blood ties.

"Her family should never have been allowed to benefit from the extraordinary privilege of living in our country," Rubio said in a post on X. "America can never become home for anti-American terrorists or their families — and under the Trump Administration, it never will."

The State Department announced similar arrests a week ago of two Los Angeles-based relatives of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimania, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020.