A Pentagon Official Saw Her Ties to an Iranian Influence Network Exposed—Then Visited the Biden-Harris White House 8 Times

Ariane Tabatabai’s admin access ‘warrants our highest scrutiny,’ Stefanik says

The Biden-Harris White House hosted a Pentagon official at the center of an Iranian government influence operation eight times—after her ties to Tehran’s hardline regime were exposed, raising further questions about the official’s ongoing access to classified information.

Senior Department of Defense official Ariane Tabatabai participated in multiple meetings organized by the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office, which is responsible for recruiting and vetting scores of nominees across the government, visitor logs reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.

Tabatabai was at the White House just two months after Semafor revealed she was a key member of a secretive Iranian influence group, the Iran Experts Initiative, that reported back to Tehran’s foreign ministry, according to the logs. She participated in at least seven other White House gatherings throughout the end of 2023 and into April 2024, mixing with officials from a range of cabinet-level agencies.

Tabatabai’s access to the White House is driving renewed scrutiny in the wake of an investigation by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) into her relationship with vice president Kamala Harris’s national security adviser, Phil Gordon. Tabatabai and Gordon coauthored at least three opinion pieces that argued against sanctions on the Iranian regime.

Tabatabai continues to serve as the chief of staff for the assistant secretary of defense for special operations, a position that grants her access to top secret information.

“Almost one year after I demanded the Department of Defense open an investigation into Ariane Tabatabai for her involvement with the Iran Experts Initiative, we continue to find out concerning details regarding the access and influence Ms. Tabatabai has within the Biden-Harris administration,” Stefanik told the Free Beacon. “Ms. Tabatabai’s concerning close ties to Kamala Harris’s national security adviser and their attempts to prop up the Iranian regime by brazenly publishing pro-Iran opinion pieces together is a matter that warrants our highest scrutiny.”

The majority of Tabatabai’s meetings were organized by Danielle Vanessa Millones, a special assistant to the president for presidential personnel, and took place in the Old Executive Office Building, which houses national security officials and other high-level White House staffers, according to visitor logs.

The meetings, which included around 30 other appointees from a range of government agencies, took place monthly from November 2023 to April of this year, a period of time that covers multiple congressional investigations into Tabatabai’s relationship with Iran and ongoing access to classified information.

The first White House meeting shown on visitor logs came just two months after lawmakers demanded the Department of Defense investigate Tabatabai’s ties to the Iranian network and reassess her eligibility to hold a security clearance. At the time, Stefanik said it was “shocking and unacceptable that the DOD is employing someone who worked so closely with the Iranian regime.”

Cotton and Stefanik reignited their investigation into Tabatabai late last month, when they asked the vice president’s office to turn over detailed information about her relationship with Gordon, who is likely to serve in a key national security role in a potential Harris White House.

Gordon, floated as a potential future secretary of state, published articles with Tabatabai after the time Tabatabai was alleged to be working for the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI). In those pieces, Gordon and Tabatabai said continued sanctions on Iran would cause “catastrophe” and prompt Iran to “lash out with attacks on its neighbors.”

Gordon is also associated with the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), an advocacy group long alleged to be serving as Tehran’s lobbying arm in America. NIAC was a leading defender of the 2015 nuclear deal, and Gordon spoke at its Leadership Conference in 2014 and 2016—both before and after his time serving in the Obama administration as a Middle East hand working on the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Stefanik, in her comments to the Free Beacon, said it is critical that Congress continues to “investigate the appointment of an individual with anti-Israel, pro-Iran sentiments to a position that grants her access to highly sensitive information.”

“Appointing Ms. Tabatabai as chief of staff for the Department of Defense’s Office for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict demonstrates either an unacceptable oversight by the Biden-Harris Administration, or worse, an intentional decision to elevate the values and priorities of our adversaries.”