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Ariane Tabatabai () is an
Iranian-American Iranian-Americans, also known as Persian-Americans, are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry, or who hold Iranian citizenship. Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the United States after 1979, as a result of the Irani ...
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
expert and author. She is a senior policy advisor to the
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...
.


Early life and education

Tabatabai is the daughter of Javad Tabatabai, an Iranian professor of political science and law at the
University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...
. She attended
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
, where she earned her PhD in defence studies in 2015.


Career

Starting in 2015, Tabatabai worked as a researcher for the southern California-based
RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
. She was then a curriculum director and visiting associate professor of security studies at Georgetown University, an international civilian consultant for
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
,Ariane Tabatabai
/ref> and a former Middle East Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Tabatabai wrote an article published by ''
Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
'' magazine prior to the 2020 US presidential election, arguing that Iran's economy was fragile and its leaders would be forced to negotiate and make concessions; she urged the winning US presidential candidate not to return to the nuclear agreement and press for more points. After the Biden administration took office in January 2021, Robert Malley was appointed to lead U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran, with Tabatabai appointed as a team member. She departed the negotiating team (along with Richard Nephew) after a few months because she believed that the U.S. would lift too many sanctions on Iran and consequently, a reinstated agreement would not be strong enough. Tabatabai is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...
.


Controversies

In September 2023, a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails reported for the first time by '' Semafor'' and Iran International claimed to connect Tabatabai with the Iran Experts Initiative, an effort initiated by senior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials to bolster Tehran's image and positions on global security issues. In response, Senator
Marsha Blackburn Mary Marsha Blackburn (née Wedgeworth; born June 6, 1952) is an American politician and businesswoman serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Tennessee. Blackburn was first ...
called for a review of her security clearance. In October 2023, after a review, Tabatabai retained her top-secret security clearance. Two weeks later, the Pentagon released a statement confirming that "Dr. Tabatabai was thoroughly and properly vetted" as a condition of her employment with the Department of Defense.


Books

*Tabatabai, A. (2020). ''No Conquest, No Defeat: Iran's National Security Strategy''. London: Hurst & Company. *Tabatabai, A. and Dina Esfandiary (2021). ''Triple-Axis: Iran's Relations with Russia and China''. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.


References


External links


Foreign Policy Research InstituteAriane Tabatabai
at
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

RAND Corporation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tabatabai, Ariane Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Iranian women scientists People from Tabriz Alumni of King's College London Stony Brook University alumni RAND Corporation people