Ariane Tabatabai's ties to Iran under scrutiny again

Israel's proxy war with Iran was hit hard earlier this week when US documents were leaked detailing plans for an attack against the country.

One name quickly appeared on the lips of Israeli intelligence sources after the incident: Ariane Tabatabai.

Israeli intelligence insiders told The Post that the Iranian-born Pentagon official had previously been named as part of an alleged covert influence campaign by Tehran in October 2023. Republicans even went so far as to call her a spy.

However, Tabatabai is still employed by US intelligence agencies – which have categorically denied that she had anything to do with the leak.

Israeli sources remain skeptical – they fear that a possible retaliation against Iran for its October 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel has been leaked by its closest ally.

An Israeli intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Post: “If she did it, it will be traced.”

The same official added: “The American intelligence community is far too embedded in our own intelligence community to ensure that our classified information is adequately protected.”

As the news site Semafor reported in September 2023, senior political adviser Tabatabai previously appeared to have been a willing recruit for a Tehran Foreign Ministry operation.

“She has been suspected of collaborating with the Islamic regime before,” a U.S.-based Iran expert told The Post. “There have been some calls to revoke her security clearance.”

Tabatabai also happened to work as a key adviser to Robert Malley, the now-suspended Iran envoy who is said to have ties to the bloodthirsty Iranian regime led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Last year he was discreetly placed on unpaid leave in connection with the alleged mishandling of “protected material”.

At the time, Tabatabai was allowed to keep her job, which paid $153,454 a year.

More recently, she was promoted within the Department of Defense, rising from Chief of Staff to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Armed Forces Education and Training.

The Jerusalem Post described Tabatabai as an “official with alleged Iran ties amid leak investigations and espionage allegations.”

However, the Pentagon claims that Tabatabai is not a suspect in the latest leak. During a press conference on October 22, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder stated, “The FBI is investigating the suspected loss of classified documents and is working closely with the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.”

After Ryder was asked specifically about Tabatabai, he responded, “…the officer referred to is not a subject of interest.”

Tabatabai did not respond to calls from The Post for comment.

Echoing the Israeli source, the Iran expert pointed out that a number of people with security clearances could be behind the leak.

“There was a lack of control [multiple people] that have to do with Iran,” said the expert.

According to the Israeli insider, the leak not only brought pressure on Israel and the United States, but – regardless of who was behind it – it also had an important short-term benefit for Iran, as it “scattered our planned attack.”

The Iran expert added that the leak had far-reaching consequences that went beyond a single incident: “The Islamic regime is not just against Israel. Iran has also become enemy number one for America's security interests. It is against the Western world. This is the one issue we should be extremely careful about.”