Iranian national, wife charged after threatening to shoot officers during ICE arrest

An Iranian national and his U.S. citizen wife have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Arizona after allegedly threatening to shoot immigration officers attempting to carry out a deportation order, according to prosecutors.

The incident occurred on June 21 in Tempe, Arizona, where officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) attempted to arrest 40-year-old Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand, who had remained in the United States for more than a decade despite a 2013 removal order, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

His wife, 37-year-old Linet Vartanniavartanians, refused to open the door and told the officers to return with a warrant. According to court documents, Vartanniavartanians called local police and threatened to shoot the federal officers if they tried to enter the home.

She allegedly claimed to have a loaded firearm and said she would shoot ICE agents in the head. When a police dispatcher spoke with Eidivand, he confirmed there were guns inside the residence.

The following day, agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and ICE executed a federal search warrant at the home, where they found two loaded firearms—one on the kitchen counter and another on a nightstand. Both suspects were arrested without further incident.

Eidivand has been charged with being an alien in possession of a firearm, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. Vartanniavartanians has been charged with threatening to assault a federal officer, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.