Senator Tom Cotton has penned a written appeal to the FBI’s Director, Kash Patel, and Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. In this correspondence issued on Wednesday, he emphatically advocated for a probe into the possible existence of covert Iranian operatives within the U.S. intelligence group.
Senator Cotton’s communique elicited a diligent examination from the Department of Defense and the FBI for potential counterintelligence threats and a possible breach of the law. The senator’s concerns were rooted in the fear that classified ‘national security information’ may have fallen into the hands of a ‘hostile foreign country.’ He also worried about the potential for U.S. citizens, acting at the behest of an adversary, attempting to manipulate U.S. strategies.
Ariane Tabatabai, founding member of the Iranian Experts Initiative (IEI) and former high-ranking official in the State Department under President Biden’s administration, was explicitly mentioned in the correspondence. Currently, she holds a position as a senior policy advisor in the Pentagon.
At forty, Tabatabai, an American intelligence official born in Iran, was identified in a cache of documents leaked in 2023. The documents suggested a possible link between her and an influence campaign led by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Tabatabai is known to have played a significant role in establishing the Iranian Experts Initiative (IEI), a project launched by the Iranian Foreign Ministry in 2014. The initiative purposed to ‘propagate Tehran’s narratives in the West.’ In addition to this, she served as a close associate to Robert Malley, Biden’s special envoy to Iran, who faced suspension in June 2023 regarding the mishandling of ‘protected material.’
Over the years, Republican members have fingered Tabatabai as a covert agent—a contention consistently dispelled by intelligence officials during Biden’s time in office.
In October of the preceding year, confidential U.S documents depicting a plotted offensive against Iran were leaked. The ensuing investigation by Israeli intelligence pointed towards Tabatabai as a plausible source of the leak.
Senator Cotton, in his letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, postulated that enemies had ascended to high-ranking positions within the government and external sectors during President Biden’s tenure.
In spite of these allegations, Tabatabai continues to retain her position at the Pentagon, along with her security clearance.
Tabatabai was born and raised in Tehran. She is the offspring of one of the country’s prominent political intellectuals, Sayed Javad Tabatabai, who had affiliations with former Iranian presidents Muhammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, and held a teaching position at Tehran University.
In the letter sent to Patel and Hegseth on Wednesday, Senator Cotton, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s presiding head, expressed his alarm: affiliates tied to the Iranian government may have influenced and could be continuing to influence U.S. government procedures.
Pertaining to Ariane Tabatabai, Cotton further articulated, ‘A founding member of the contested ‘Iranian Experts Initiatives’ (IEI) continues to engage with the U.S. intelligence community. During the Biden administration, affiliates of IEI rose to prestigious positions both within the government and in external sectors, posing a significant security risk.’
The Pentagon and Tabatabai were approached with a request for their comments by the Post.
Senator Cotton’s letter culminates with an accusation pointing at ‘several appointees during the Obama and Biden administrations.’ They were allegedly involved in consistent, undisclosed interaction with Iranian officials, including then-Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and reportedly ‘received instructions from Tehran.’
The post Senator Cotton Urges Probe Into Possible Iranian Infiltration of U.S. Intelligence appeared first on Real News Now.
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