Ariane Tabatabai

Ariane Tabatabai is an Iranian-American political science expert and author. She is a senior policy advisor to the United States Department of Defense.

In September 2023, a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails reported for the first time by Semafor and Iran International claimed to connect Tabatabai with the Iran Experts Initiative, an effort initiated by senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials to bolster Tehran's image and positions on global security issues.[10][11] In response, Senator Marsha Blackburn called for a review of her security clearance.[12][13] In October 2023, after a review, Tabatabai retained her top-secret security clearance,[14] as confirmed by Rheanne Wirkkala, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, in a letter dated 13 October 2023 to Senator Joni Ernst.[15] Two weeks later, the Pentagon released a statement confirming that "Dr. Tabatabai was thoroughly and properly vetted" as a condition of her employment with the Department of Defense.[10][16]

In October 2024 various online sources claimed that Tabatabai was a suspect in a high profile leak of Israeli military plans. The United States government has denied that she is a suspect in the investigation.