Two days before the war in Israel began, U.S. senators raised concerns to the Department of Defense over potential Iranian infiltration in U.S. intelligence communities. Reports released days before the war allege top Biden administration officials had been operatives in an Iranian spy ring in Washington.
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Two top officials’ security clearances are under investigation, but one of the two still has access to top secret government documents. The senators wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Oct. 5, urging him to take immediate action.
“We find it simply unconscionable that a senior Department official would continue to hold a sensitive position despite her alleged participation in an Iranian government information operation,” the letter said.
An expose from Tablet Magazine reported the security concerns that senators are now asking the State Department to respond to. The article accuses at least two top government officials of helping “to fund, support and direct an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence the United States and allied governments.”
Robert Malley, the U.S. special representative for Iran, was placed on leave in June with security clearance revoked for mishandling classified material. He was the U.S. special envoy for Iran, in charge of negotiating with Iran and reporting back to the U.S. secretary of state.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee is investigating Malley’s ties to an official accused by the report of being an Iranian operative who still holds a sensitive position within the Pentagon.
Ariane Tabatabai has been serving as chief of staff for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations Christopher Maier. A trove of stolen Iranian government emails was reviewed by former Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon then published in a Semafor article titled “Inside Iran’s Influence Operation.“
According to emails reviewed by Solomon, Malley helped Tabatabai obtain top positions within the U.S. government. Before her current role at the Pentagon, she worked at the State Department as a diplomat alongside Malley’s Iran nuclear negotiating team after Biden took office in 2021.
Based on the review of Iranian government emails, Tabatabai was part of a regime propaganda unit set up in 2014 by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. In 2021, she was brought into the State Department by Malley. According to the emails, a group of Iranian-Americans recruited by the Iranian regime met secretly to receive instruction from Iranian officials and pledge their personal loyalty to promote Iranian interests to U.S. government officials.
The allegations surrounding Malley and Tabatabai are currently being investigated. In the meantime, Malley remains on leave and Tabatabai remains at work. A State Department spokesperson responded to Tablet Magazine’s request for comment.
“We have seen the Semafor article, which does not presume it was a ‘spy ring’ and we reject that characterization. Rob Malley remains on leave and we have no further comment due to privacy considerations. The Biden administration appointed Ariane Tabatabai to serve various roles in the U.S. government because of her expertise on nuclear and other foreign policy issues.”
Critics are calling this a scandal yet to unravel within the State Department and say the damage is already done. Gabriel Noronha, former State Department special adviser on Iran, says Malley and his negotiating team “purposefully funneled billions of dollars to [Iran] through lack of sanctions enforcement and provision of sanctions relief that has given them somewhere between $50 [billion] and $80 billion over the last two and a half years.”
The U.S. is not so far removed from the war in Israel. Both Israeli and American flags are being burned in the streets of Iran.
Hamas — the terrorist organization behind the attack on Israel — receives most of its funding from Iran. Iran is alleged to have helped plot the attack on Israel — something Iran denies. U.S. officials say this wasn’t on the radar of U.S. Intelligence.
