Pentagon aide with past Iran ties appointed to less sensitive role

A Pentagon aide previously linked by an Iran International investigation to a Tehran-led influence network has taken on a new role in the defense department which gives her reduced access to intelligence, according to a former Pentagon official.

The Iranian-American academic will now oversee force education and training within Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's office. In her new position, she will have "significantly less access to intelligence and covert military programs," according to former Defense Department officials interviewed by The Free Press.

The change in her access to intelligence comes more than a year after an extensive investigation by Iran International last September, based on a large cache of Iranian diplomatic emails, identified Tabatabai as a core member of the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI) -- a network established by Iran’s foreign ministry in 2014 to promote Tehran’s interests within Western policy circles.

After the revelations linking her to the IEI, Tabatabai retained her role and security clearance as the Pentagon Chief of Staff for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict.

The report prompted multiple congressional investigations, with Republicans raising concerns about her ability to obtain a top-secret security clearance.

The Pentagon and State Department have said there was nothing in Tabatabai’s background that would have disqualified her from accessing classified information.

She previously served as a key aide to the since-suspended US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, whose own connections to Tehran were detailed in a subsequent investigation by Iran International in February.

New Position

In her new position, Tabatabai takes on expanded responsibilities overseeing force education and training—a shift from her previous role which generally entails more direct access to classified operational details.

While the Pentagon did not specify the exact date when she left her last post, a report by Politico said she was offered the new position last month.

The Pentagon, however, notified Congress about her transition to the new office on Friday, October 25, one week after the leak of US documents on Israel's plans to attack Iran, according to the Free Press.

Sky News Arabia named Tabatabai as the one being investigated in the case, citing a Pentagon official. However, the Defense Department officially denied that she was a subject of interest in the investigation.

The emails reviewed in the 2023 Iran International investigation indicate Tabatabai consulted Iranian officials on professional matters, shared article drafts for review, and promoted Iran-aligned narratives on its nuclear policy.

Prior to Tabatabai’s elevation to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, the Free Beacon reported that the Biden White House hosted Tabatabai on eight occasions – after it was revealed that she had been at the heart of the Iranian influence network.

Those meetings sparked further concerns by senior Republican lawmakers about Tabatabai's access to classified information long after US lawmakers called for a suspension of her security clearance and an investigation into her role and her recruitment process.