The Iran Experts Initiative (IEI) was a project Iranian Foreign Ministry officials initiated in 2014. According to reports in Semafor and

Iran International Iran International () is a Persian-language satellite television channel and multilingual digital news operation established in May 2017 and headquartered in London aimed at Iranians and people interested in Iranian news, culture, society and ...

, based on purportedleaked emails, the initiative was used to "promote Tehran's arguments in the west". Members of the Iran Experts Initiative worked as academics and researchers for

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 ...

s in the West, and gave advice to Europe and the U.S. According to a report by

, the project consisted of "an influence network formed and guided by Tehran".

Leaked emails

In September 2023, the London-based Persian-language news television channel

and the news website Semafor obtained leaked foreign ministry emails in which Iranian government officials claimed credit for assembling a network of Western scholars called the Iran Experts Initiative. According to the reports, the thousands of emails describe an effort by Iran's Foreign Ministry "to improve Tehran's image abroad". The reports also said Iran sought to build international ties with influential academics and researchers.

Contact with Tehran

Iranian diplomat Saeed Khatibzadeh wrote a letter in 2014 to Mostafa Zahrani (head of Iran's Foreign Ministry think tank) saying that the core members of the IEI had been selected. IEI members reportedly communicated with Iranian officials.

Investigation

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

official and academic

Ariane Tabatabai Ariane Tabatabai () is an Iranian-American political science expert and author. She is a senior policy advisor to the United States Department of Defense. Early life and education Tabatabai is the daughter of Javad Tabatabai, an Iranian profe ...

has been linked to the Iran Experts Initiative. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers expressed "deep concern with the Department f Defenses hiring of Ariane Tabatabai". State Department spokesman Matt Miller said that the report "looked like an account of things that happened almost a decade ago", while Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee Chairman

Jack Bergman John Warren Bergman (born February 2, 1947) is an American politician and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant general serving as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 1st congressional district since 2017. He is a member of the Re ...

said Tabatabai's "close ties" to the Iranian government "should disqualify her for a position in such a sensitive area as special operations and low-intensity conflict." The Pentagon launched an investigation following the reports. 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.

References

Internet leaks Whistleblowing Espionage {{Espionage-stub