Staff Only Briefing
On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 11:30 a.m., a Congressional briefing will be held on Capitol Hill to discuss Iran’s covert influence operations abroad (including the United States) and inside Iran intended to maintain the regime in power.
Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield, Jr., former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, and Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Associate Dean of the College of Public Affairs at The University of Baltimore and author of When Terrorism and Counterterrorism Clash, will brief the members and staff on this subject.
They are also releasing their new report, IRAN: The Ayatollah’s Hidden Hand.
When: Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 pm
Where: U.S. House of Representatives (Room TBA).
What: Congressional Briefing, IRAN: The Ayatollah’s Hidden Hand
Who:
– Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield, Jr., former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs
– Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Associate Dean of the College of Public Affairs at The University of Baltimore
(Lunch will be served)
RSVP required info@oiac.org
Iran Conducting Influence Operations in the Biden Administration: Report
By DAVID ZIMMERMANN
November 14, 2023 5:14 PM
Iran has been conducting covert influence operations for years in the U.S. and abroad as part of a concerted disinformation campaign that is suspected to be espionage, a congressional briefing and corresponding report revealed Tuesday.
The 82-page report, titled “Iran: The Ayatollah’s Hidden Hand,” details how supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the Iranian regime use operatives in the Biden administration to influence U.S. policy involving the Islamic Republic, building on a Semafor article that was published in September. At the time, it was reported that at least three Iranian agents transitioned from soliciting Tehran’s talking points to working directly on policy under the purview of U.S. special representative for Iran, Rob Malley. In April, Malley’s security clearance was suspended over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
“Having been provided with top-level security clearances, these Iranian agents had access to highly classified and sensitive information available only to senior U.S. officials, placing them in a unique position to mislead American policymakers while undermining policy toward Iran’s theocratic regime,” the newly published report states. “The actors allegedly collaborated with and took direction from senior Iranian officials while maintaining the appearance of working on behalf of the U.S. government.”
In addition to swaying foreign policy in favor of Iranian interests, the operatives also worked to subvert favorable opinions of the Middle Eastern nation’s leading opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), from Washington, D.C. Iran continues to demonize the MEK to this day, accusing the political group of terrorism primarily for its defiance of Ayatollah Khamenei.
“By brazenly targeting the highly effective dissident organization, the operatives hoped to leave U.S. officials with the false impression that there is no viable alternative to the ayatollahs — and certainly not one with a pro-democracy record that remains committed to toppling clerical rule,” the report adds.
Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, associate dean at the University of Baltimore who authored the report, presented an overview of his findings to select congressmen, foreign policy experts, and the media on Capitol Hill, where he called on both chambers of Congress to organize investigations and hearings into the matter.
“The Iranian regime poses a direct national security threat to U.S. citizens and U.S. security interests,” Sheehan said. “The fact of the matter is that no organization who aligns themselves with a hostile state or serves as a foreign agent should wield influence over U.S. policy or have access to sensitive national security information.”
Representatives Tom McClintock (R., Calif.), Randy Weber (R., Texas), and ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield Jr., the former assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs during the George W. Bush administration, introduced the professor’s research at the briefing.
While lauding the House’s actions to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Sheehan advocated for Congress and decision-makers in Washington to be aware of the tactics that Tehran employs to “advance their broader, geopolitical agenda.” Early this month, the House passed a bipartisan resolution that declares a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable under U.S. policy.
Intimidation of U.S. officials is one of the many tactics listed in the book, Sheehan said, noting one of the key endorsers of his report was shot in Madrid, Spain, just five days prior to the Tuesday briefing. Professor and European statesman Alejo Vidal-Quadras, who fortunately survived, has reason to believe the Iranian regime was behind the failed assassination attempt. The Spanish police’s special terrorism unit is currently investigating the matter.
Sheehan posed questions to the audience, wondering whether the Iranian influence operations have officially become efforts of espionage and how much damage the covert campaign has caused.
Iran Conducting Influence Operations in the Biden Administration: Report
Biden Admin Official Allegedly Part Of ‘Covert Campaign’ To Undermine Iranian Opposition: Report
A Pentagon aide born in Iran was accused in a report sent to President Joe Biden this week of being part of a “covert campaign” inside the U.S. that aimed to undermine influential critics of Iran.
The aide, Ariane Tabatabai, has kept her security clearance after an explosive report was published in Semafor earlier this fall that alleged that she was part of an Iranian spy ring that infiltrated “some of the most sensitive positions in the U.S. government.”
The operation began in 2014 when Iran created the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI), a propaganda and influence operation that recruited top talent from Iranians living abroad to help Iran obtain a favorable nuclear deal. The group reported to an official from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is a terrorist organization, and Iran’s then-Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was also reportedly involved.
The New York Post reported this week that University of Baltimore professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan wrote a report alleging that Tabatabai and other members of the IEI engaged in a “covert campaign” to smear the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), one of the top opposition groups to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.
“By seeking to neutralize favorable impressions of the organization among Washington’s foreign policy elite, Tehran sought to take down an entity capable of aiding Western attempts to curtail the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program, malign regional agenda, human rights abuses, and fundamentalist inclinations,” the report, endorsed by former vice presidential national security adviser Lincoln Bloomfield, said.
The report was also endorsed by Spanish political leader Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca, who was shot in the face last week in Madrid in an attack that Sheehan reportedly said could be linked to Iran. A British intelligence official said in an interview that aired this week that there has been a “real acceleration” in the number of attempted assassinations that Iran is carrying out on Western soil.
“By brazenly targeting the highly effective dissident organization, the operatives hoped to leave US officials with the false impression that there is no viable alternative to the ayatollahs — and certainly not one with a pro-democracy record that remains committed to toppling clerical rule,” the report added.
The Post said that the report was given to Biden on Monday and Sheehan was planning to brief lawmakers this week.
Sheehan wrote that the alleged IEI spies wrote op-eds to “smear” Iran’s opponents in Western media and to “discourage a shift in the U.S. government toward a realistic regime change policy in Iran.”
“These viewpoints included beliefs such as, ‘According to Khamenei’s fatwa, Nuclear bomb is not Halal in Shiite belief and therefore will not be developed by the theocratic regime’ and ‘the regime has no viable alternative and MEK is disliked in Iran, and therefore this regime has to and will stay despite any discontent,’” he wrote.
Tabatabai worked under Robert Malley, President Joe Biden’s now-suspended special envoy to Iran, before going to the Department of Defense. Malley is currently under criminal investigation by the FBI over his alleged handling of classified material.
We Still Have an Iranian Mole Inside the Pentagon
JAZZ SHAW on November 13, 2023
You may recall a stunning report from September that looked into an infrequently discussed Pentagon group known as the Iran Experts Initiative. In it, we learned about one of Joe Biden’s Iranian “experts” who was probably far too much of an expert in this field. Ariane Tabatabai is an Iranian-born aide and chief of staff to a Pentagon Assistant Secretary of Defense. She initially worked alongside the now-suspended Robert Malley on Biden’s efforts to restart Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. But the September report suggests she was working far more on behalf of the Iranian regime than our government. Still, she managed to keep both her new job at the Pentagon and her security clearance. Today, a new report was delivered to Biden revealing that Tabatabai was up to other activities. She worked on a covert campaign to smear the leading opposition group in Iran in support of the Iranian regime. And yet she is somehow still embedded inside of the Pentagon. (NY Post)
An Iranian-born Pentagon aide, who was revealed earlier this year to be part of a years-long, Tehran-backed influence operation, also sought to undermine the leading group resisting the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a new report delivered to President Biden.
Ariane Tabatabai has retained her security clearance and position as chief of staff to the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict — despite a bombshell Semafor report in September detailing her ties to senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials.
But Tabatabai and founding members of the influence operation, known as the Iran Experts Initiative, were also engaged in a “covert campaign” to smear the nation’s leading opposition group, known as the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), according to a recent report endorsed by former vice presidential national security adviser Lincoln Bloomfield and written by a University of Baltimore professor.
Will this sway Joe Biden to finally take some action? I wouldn’t count on it. We already know that Biden has been bending over backward and shoveling billions of dollars to Iran, all in an effort to curry favor with them. He does this despite being fully aware that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism on the planet and that’s where most of our money goes. That money is currently funding groups that are attacking American forces on a daily basis around the Middle East.
So why would he mind having someone working in his Pentagon who is a Mullah-loving activist who sought to undermine the opposition to the Iranian terror regime? Why wouldn’t he allow her to keep a very sensitive security clearance and retain access to some of our most classified information regarding our adversary that is working to wipe Israel from the face of the planet? She was working covertly to undercut the Mojahedin-e Khalq. They are one of the only groups in Iran that fight for the rights of the women and children oppressed by the Mullahs and the “morality police.”
No matter how badly this administration handles virtually every policy matter of importance, the Biden team still manages to shock me on a regular basis. I suppose it’s possible that this woman somehow flew under the radar during her initial background checks and slid into a position inside the government. But multiple people in the know, both at home and abroad have come out and flatly called her an Iranian spy. How much does it take to lose a security clearance these days? Will we be offering a position to Kim Jong-un’s sister next?
We have serious problems with Iran right now and the situation in Israel and Gaza has amplified them many times over. We are dangerously close to the point where we may have to take direct military action against Iranian assets, assuming Biden has the stomach for it. Will Ariane Tabatabai have access to information about such missions in advance? After all, she is supposedly an Iran Experts Initiative member. If she’s leaking information back to Tehran it could literally put Americans’ lives at risk. Perhaps she’s not, but with her background is it really worth taking the chance? I would argue it’s not. How Joe Biden chooses to handle this report will say even more about where he truly stands and his fitness to be our Commander-in-Chief.
The extensive lobby network of the Islamic Republic is the subject of the meeting of the Organization of American Iranian Communities in Congress.
