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Washington, D.C. - Morgan Ortagus, Former U.S. Department of State Spokesperson and Founder of Polaris National Security, released the following statement regarding an Iranian initiative to infiltrate U.S. Administrations:
"Is the Biden administration employing and being advised by Iranian sleeper agents? Today's reporting by Semafor and Iran International indicates that senior U.S. government officials and former top advisors to former Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley were part of the Iranian regime's "Iran Experts Initiative" is grounds for immediate investigation by Congress. Ali Vaez, the top outside advisor to the White House and State Department on Iran negotiations, was even caught swearing allegiance to the Iranian Foreign Minister over email.
"Worse, experts have been sounding alarm bells about this infiltration for years. Iranian dissidents have noted that the father of Ariane Tabatabai, a former aide to Malley at the State Department and current senior Pentagon official, is a close associate of former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Meanwhile, even Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif has bragged that he used Ali Vaez to influence Western negotiators. Yet, Ali Vaez somehow was given so much access to details of ongoing negotiations with Iran that he served as the main source for the recent New York Times' stories on the $6 billion hostage deal.
"The former Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley is under FBI investigation and has had his security clearance removed. This calls for an immediate Congressional and law enforcement investigation into the scope of Iranian influence operations in the United States. We cannot permit our enemies to undermine U.S. national security on such an important issue."
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