The White House says it is “reviewing’’ the immigration situation of Iranians who gained benefits under the Biden administration — as The Post revealed viral online petitions are demanding the US ouster of kin of Iran’s ruling elite.
More than 41,000 people have already signed a Change.org petition urging President Trump to deport Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of a powerful Iranian official who currently serves as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani is the daughter of Ali Larijani, an Iranian official who currently serves as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Fatemeh Ardeshir-LarijaniThe woman’s father, Ali Larijani, recently spewed on social media that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were “the main killers of the people of Iran’’ — even as Iran’s dictatorship that Larijani works for has slain an estimated thousands of protesters in recent days.
The Iranian security chief’s daughter, Ardeshir-Larijani — a specialized cancer doc at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. — was granted a green card in 2021 under former President Joe Biden’s administration, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek on Thursday.
“We are aware of media coverage regarding one of our physicians,” Andrea Clement, associate director of public relations at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, told Newsweek.
“Emory employees are hired in full compliance with applicable state and federal laws and other applicable requirements, including our commitment to advancing patient care, research, and teaching.”
Another relative of a prominent previous government figure in Iran — who is living the American Dream in California — is also under fire online.
Ali Larijani recently spewed on social media that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were “the main killers of the people of Iran.” REUTERSThe man, Eissa Hashemi, is the 43-year-old son of Masoumeh Ebtekar — a k a “Screaming Mary,” the radical spokeswoman for the militants who stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
“The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted under former Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern including Iran,” McLaughlin told Newsweek.
Getty ImagesSupporters of the petitions argue it’s unacceptable for senior members of Iran’s ruling class–whose regime has been accused of brutal crackdowns on protesters–to shelter in the US while ordinary Iranians suffer.
Mersedeh Shahinkar, an Iranian mom who lost her right eye to a bullet in a 2021 hijab protest in Iran and now lives in California, praised the White House development.
“[The Post’s] previous post on X about the presence of family members of senior Islamic Republic officials has received significant traction within the Iranian diaspora, many of whom express anger and disappointment that the children of a regime that stripped them of their freedom are allowed to live freely in the US, often with access to wealth linked to laundered regime funds,” Shahinkar said Friday.
Mersedeh Shahinkar was with her mother at a protest in Tehran, in October 2022 when she lost her eye. Instagram @mersedeh_eye“The Islamic Republic and its senior officials are designated by the US government as part of a state sponsor of terrorism,” she told The Post.
“While no sanctionable conduct is alleged against their immediate family members, their residence and financial access without proper scrutiny raise legitimate national security and public trust concerns.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment Friday.
