Amid ongoing U.S. national security concerns about Iranian influence operations and Iranian regime family members secretly living in the United States as the US and Iran are at war, Loomer Unleashed has uncovered that Dorsa Sattari-Khavas, a PhD candidate at Rice University in Houston, Texas, is the daughter of Sorena Sattari. Sorena Sattari served as Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology and played a prominent role in the country’s scientific and nuclear-related advancements.
A photo uncovered by Loomer Unleashed shows Dorsa Sattari-Khavas in Iran while wearing a hijab, posing with several family members, including her father, Sorena Sattari, who is standing next to former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the photo. A biometric analysis on facial recognition software of her face in this photo, compared with the photo in her LinkedIn profile photo in which she’s wearing a white lab coat that says Rice University, is an identical match.
Sorena Sattari held the position of Vice President under Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Ebrahim Raisi from 2013 to 2022, heading the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology. This was during the time Rouhani was the chief Iranian nuclear negotiator. Today, Sattari leads the National Elites Foundation in Iran. The US Department of Justice describes the foundation as a front to support Iran’s economic and military position.
“The Iran National Elites Foundation was established by Iran’s Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution and uses incentives-such as scholarships, research funding, government provided housing in Iran, and exemptions from military service-to encourage Iranian professionals to return to Iran to share knowledge in advanced science, technology, engineering, and mathematic fields to enhance Iran’s economic and military position”
In June of 2024, the US Department of Justice charged Iranian-born but naturalized US citizen Abouzar Rahmati with espionage and claimed Rahmati shared information with Sorena Sattari. Government documents identify Sattari as “Iranian Government Official 1,” calling him a co-conspirator. Sorena Sattari has frequently commented that when Iranians study abroad, it is for the explicit purpose of bringing that technology back to Iran. He said he wants “brain circulation” not “brain drain.”
Based on the DOJ’s investigation, Sattari has clear links with agents conducting espionage in the United States with the intention of stealing technology and other sensitive information for the purpose of giving it to the Islamic Republic of Iran. He’s not a scientist. He’s a spymaster who will do whatever he can to ensure Tehran has the technology and know-how it needs to defeat America.
Sattari is a mechanical engineer who trained at Sharif University of Technology. He was a key figure in promoting Iran’s knowledge-based economy, startup ecosystem, and high-tech initiatives, including those overlapping with sensitive sectors like Nuclear sciences.
Iranian state media and official events frequently show him alongside other Iranian nuclear officials, including Atomic Energy Organization of Iran head Ali Akbar Salehi, at ceremonies highlighting nuclear achievements, the launch of specialized nuclear industry innovation centers, and exhibitions on nuclear technology. He’s also appeared in videos and images standing next to Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei and former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in front of rocket motors that are currently powering projectiles that kill Americans in the Middle East.
Sattari participated in high-level delegations visiting international nuclear fusion sites like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and reported on nuclear progress directly to Iranian leadership.
Sattari also maintained close ties to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was recently killed in a targeted airstrike ordered by President Trump. Additionally, Sattari maintained strong connections to the Supreme Leader’s office, and he received public expressions of trust from Khamenei regarding the management of the National Elites Foundation.
In one documented interaction, Khamenei responded to a letter from Sattari urging alignment across government branches for innovative industries. It’s worth noting that Sattari’s father, Mansour Sattari, who is referred to as a martyr by the Iranian government, was a late commander of the Islamic Republic’s Air Force who established a surveillance network in Iran. The Sattari missile is named in his honor, leaving no question about the Sattari family’s strong ties within Iran’s political and military elite networks, including the IRGC.
“Martyr Sattari was the originator of advanced defense tactics that established a basic and memorable infrastructure, including the establishment of the Air University. He established the University of Aerospace, the School of Nursing, and the Air Force Pathology Center, and established a surveillance network.”
Dorsa Sattari Khavas, identified as his daughter, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Her research involves synthetic biology, including work on programmable RNA platforms, microbial engineering for environmental sensing, sulfite reductase switches, and bioelectronic systems.
Public academic records, including a Rice University thesis repository acknowledgment, indicate that aspects of related lab work she has participated in were sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Office under Grant Number W911NF-22-1-0239. Funding was also received by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation (HHS/NIH), Department of Energy, and the Office of Naval Research. The paper, published in April of 2026, in which she is a lead author is titled: “Microbial spies and bloggers: programming cells to convert environmental information into discernible signals.”
Was mention of “spies” in the title an admission of guilt or does she just have a way with words? The paper notes that the views expressed are those of the authors and not official U.S. government policy, but the funding source from the U.S. Army Research lab raises red flags given her family background and ties to Iran’s regime, which is currently at war with the United States. Sattari also served as a Teaching Assistant for a class called “Advanced Topics in Thermodynamics.” This is not some abstract academic topic. American troops serving overseas and our allies are feeling the brunt of Iranian expertise when it comes to thermodynamics.
Sattari has been praised by Rice University officials, including the head of her department, even appearing in a recent Reddit AMA on behalf of her department. By allowing the daughter of one of Iran’s top science officials, a figure deeply involved in advancing the Islamic Republic’s technological capabilities, including in nuclear-adjacent fields, to access U.S. taxpayer-funded military research, poses an unacceptable risk to US national security.
Iran has a well-documented history of leveraging diaspora networks, students, and scientific exchanges for intelligence gathering and technology acquisition to support its nuclear program, missile development, and military modernization, often in violation of international sanctions. The Department of Justice continues to investigate cases of espionage against Iranian officials and their family members.
Dorsa Sattari Khavas should face deportation proceedings under applicable immigration and export control laws, particularly those governing foreign nationals from adversarial states involved in sensitive scientific research.
Rice University, a private institution receiving approximately $156 million in federal grants each year, should undergo a thorough investigation by U.S. counterintelligence agencies, including the FBI and Department of Energy (given overlaps in research areas), to determine whether any research findings, data, or scientific intelligence have been or could be transferred back to Iran by Dorsa Sattari-Khavas. Such transfers could directly or indirectly benefit Sorena Sattari’s Iranian government networks and Iran’s strategic scientific programs that her father oversees as one of Iran’s top scientists and the head of Iran’s National Elites Foundation.
This case echoes broader concerns about “elite capture” and family-based influence operations by the Iranian regime on US soil. While Dorsa Sattari-Khavas’s specific research appears focused on synthetic biology and biosensing rather than direct nuclear physics, the dual-use potential of advanced biological and chemical engineering techniques, combined with her father’s position as Iran’s de facto top science policymaker under Khamenei, demands scrutiny.
US universities have faced repeated warnings from federal agencies about vetting students and researchers from high-risk countries like Iran, China, and Russia to prevent espionage or unwitting technology leakage.
Rice University has a raft of policies to prevent illegal technology transfers and terrorism, some of which may have been violated by Sattari.
Given Dorsa’s family connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran, her father’s documented role in Iran’s scientific push (including nuclear science), and U.S. Army funding, this national security conflict warrants a formal review rather than dismissal as guilt by association.
As U.S.-Iran tensions persist over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, regional proxy Islamic terrorist activities, and sanctions evasion, policymakers in Washington, D.C., should revoke and permanently end student visas for relatives of Iranian regime officials. Allowing family members of US adversaries to have unchecked access to sensitive U.S. research facilities and American educational institutions risks compromising American technological secrets that Iran has long sought to erode through both overt and covert means.
Further immediate investigation is essential to safeguard U.S. interests. Deportation of additional Iranian regime family members, coupled with institutional audits, would send a necessary signal to our adversaries that American universities and defense-funded labs are not open pipelines for adversarial regimes to infiltrate.
Dorsa Sattari-Khavas must be deported, and all federal funding and grants for Rice University must immediately be halted until she is removed from the university and our country.
The post EXCLUSIVE: Daughter Of Former Iranian Vice President Tied To Khamenei And Rouhani, Sorena Sattari, Conducts U.S. Army-Funded Research At Rice University appeared first on Loomered.
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