Tuesday, a bombshell report from The Washington Free revealed that the Pentagon defended a senior official amid allegations of her involvement in an Iranian influence network.
The accusation that Ariane Tabatabai has ties to the Iranian regime was denied by a Pentagon spokesperson on Tuesday.
“Dr. Tabatabai was thoroughly and properly vetted as a condition of her employment with the Department of Defense,” the spokesperson attempted to claim.
The report was founded on emails from senior Iranian officials and revealed the Iran Experts Initiative, a communications network.
According to reports, this network consists of Tabatabai and other influential academicians who communicated with Iran’s foreign ministry and promoted Tehran’s viewpoints to American policymakers.
The State Department also attempted to refut the report, stating that the source’s information was “almost a decade old,” and referred further inquiries to the Pentagon.
The National Security Council spokesman for the White House, John Kirby, deflected questions about the validity of the allegation, stating that the administration is still reviewing the information.
Tuesday afternoon, members of the House Armed Services Committee sent Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin an investigative letter over the scandal.
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