US Revokes Green Cards of
Iranian Regime Relatives —
A Principled Stand That
Europe Must Follow
Secretary Rubio has revoked the legal status of Qasem Soleimani’s niece and other regime-linked individuals residing in the US, citing public support for the IRGC and anti-American propaganda. The move sets a precedent Europe cannot afford to ignore — given 102 documented Iranian plots on EU soil and a rising campaign against dissidents, Jews, and Western institutions.
Rubio Acts: Soleimani’s Niece and Other Regime-Linked Individuals Lose US Residency
On or around April 4, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio took decisive action that has drawn considerable international attention: the revocation of lawful permanent resident status — commonly known as green cards — for Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, niece of slain IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani, and her daughter. Both were residing in Los Angeles. Federal agents arrested them, and they are now in ICE custody awaiting deportation. Afshar’s husband has been barred from entering the United States.
The State Department’s rationale is documented and specific. Afshar reportedly used her public platform to promote Iranian regime propaganda, celebrate attacks on American soldiers and facilities in the Middle East, praise Iran’s Supreme Leader, denounce the United States as the “Great Satan,” and express explicit support for the IRGC — which is designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. Similar action was taken against Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, daughter of former Iranian official Ali Larijani, and her husband.
America as the Land of Freedom: Who Gets to Stay — and Why
The United States has historically positioned itself as a refuge for the persecuted and a defender of liberty — a beacon for those fleeing exactly the kind of theocratic authoritarianism that Iran’s Islamic Republic represents. That identity is not compatible with allowing senior figures from that very regime’s family networks to reside in the United States while publicly celebrating the regime’s operations against American forces and American values.
Immigration privileges are not unlimited entitlements. They are conditional — on compliance with host-nation law and, in the case of lawful permanent residence, on a basic alignment with the values of the society that has offered protection. Freedom of speech does not extend to incitement or material support for designated terrorist organizations. Public celebration of attacks on American soldiers, while enjoying the security and prosperity that American democracy provides, is not protected expression. It is a betrayal of the social contract that makes residency possible.
Welcoming the oppressed must never mean sheltering their oppressors’ enablers. The United States has every right — and the moral responsibility — to distinguish between genuine refugees and those who exploit American freedoms to advance the agendas of the regimes that created the refugees in the first place.
218 External Plots Since 1979 — 102 on European Soil: The Documented Threat
The US decision does not exist in a vacuum. It responds to a documented, sustained, and intensifying campaign by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to extend their reach into Western democracies — targeting dissidents, journalists, Israeli citizens, and Jewish communities, often through proxies and criminal networks designed to provide Tehran with plausible deniability.
The patterns are well-documented across intelligence assessments and court records in multiple countries. Iran has conducted or directed assassination plots against opposition figures in Paris, London, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam. It has recruited local criminals and drug networks to conduct operations while maintaining organizational distance. It has used surveillance networks in Germany to monitor Iranian diaspora rallies and pressure the families of exiles. It has used online proxies to coordinate harassment campaigns against journalists. And in 2026, amid escalating U.S.-Israel military operations against Iran, it has directed or inspired a wave of attacks on Jewish institutions across Liège, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Oslo, Schoonhoven, and London.
Over half of the 102 documented Iranian plots in Europe — 54 cases — occurred between 2021 and 2024. The frequency is accelerating. And yet European governments have been slower than the United States to respond with the legal and immigration instruments at their disposal.
The EU Must Follow: Five Concrete Steps to Close the Gap
European Union countries have historically prioritized diplomatic engagement — particularly around nuclear negotiations — over robust counter-measures against Iranian intelligence operations on their territory. This has allowed Iranian networks to operate with relative impunity, documented in plots across France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The US decision under Secretary Rubio provides both a model and a challenge: will Europe follow, or will it continue to be outpaced by the threat?
The case for EU action is not ideological. It is practical. Harboring regime supporters enables espionage and terror financing. It undermines solidarity with the United States and other allies against shared threats. It erodes public trust in immigration systems that appear to favor regime enablers over genuine refugees fleeing the very regime whose supporters are being protected. And it creates operational environments — the pro-regime networks, the community surveillance, the propaganda infrastructure — that IRGC handlers can exploit for operational purposes at moments of their choosing.
Five Steps for a Coordinated Western Response
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1EU-Wide Harmonization of Residency Revocation CriteriaAdopt common criteria for revoking the residency of individuals who publicly support designated terrorist entities, including the IRGC, while enjoying the protections and freedoms of EU member states.
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2Strengthened Vetting for IRGC and MOIS AffiliationsScreen Iranian applicants for intelligence connections and pro-regime public conduct. Build on existing Europol cooperation and Five Eyes intelligence sharing to identify individuals with operational ties to Iranian intelligence agencies.
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3Enhanced Prosecutions for Material SupportPursue charges under counterterrorism legislation against individuals who facilitate IRGC-linked plots — including those who provide logistics, finance, safe harbour, or communication support — whether or not they are directly involved in the attacks themselves.
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4Full EU Designation of the IRGC as a Terrorist OrganizationThe European Parliament has called for this. Member governments must act. Without this designation, the legal architecture for many other steps is absent. The IRGC’s documented operations in Europe — including plots foiled in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the UK — justify designation on the evidence already available.
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5Protect Dissidents While Expelling Regime EnablersThese are the two sides of the same policy. The Iranian opposition — journalists, activists, secular voices, ethnic and religious minorities — who fled the Islamic Republic are exactly who Western asylum systems were designed to protect. They must be shielded from the regime’s reach. Their oppressors’ supporters must not be granted the freedoms their regime denies to others.
As Founder and President of the European Association for the Defense of Minorities, I have spent years advocating for the rights of communities across the MENA region and Europe — including the Iranian diaspora, which contains millions of people who fled precisely the regime whose supporters Secretary Rubio has now expelled from the United States. Those Iranians are not the same as Hamideh Soleimani Afshar. They are her victims, not her allies. The distinction matters enormously — both morally and politically.
The US decision is a principled stand, consistent with America’s historical identity as the land of the free. It rejects the notion that democratic societies must tolerate those who actively back regimes committing crimes against humanity, sponsoring terrorism, and plotting violence on Western soil — while simultaneously enjoying the security and prosperity those societies provide. Welcoming the oppressed must never mean sheltering their oppressors’ enablers.
European governments would do well to follow this lead — not as an act of ideological alignment with any single administration, but as a recognition of their own security interests and democratic values. Iran’s IRGC is conducting operations across European territory. Its networks have been documented. Its proxies have attacked synagogues, ambulances, dissidents, and journalists from London to Amsterdam to Liège. The question for European governments is not whether to act, but when — and whether it will be before or after the next attack.
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