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Who is Dorsa Sattari-Khavas? Laura Loomer claims daughter of ex-Iran Vice President conducts army-funded research in US
Far-right activist and credentialed Pentagon reporter Laura Loomer claimed Dorsa Sattari-Khavas, daughter of Iran's former Vice President, is living in the US.
Dorsa Sattari-Khavas, daughter of Iran's former Vice President Sorena Sattari, is reportedly living in the US and conducting research as per Laura Loomer, the far-right activist and credentialed Pentagon reporter.
Loomer reported that a photo uncovered by her showed Sattari-Khavas in Iran wearing a hijab and posing with other family members. Her father, Sorena Sattari, could also be seen in the picture and he was standing next to the former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.
Sattari was also reportedly close to former Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the joint US-Israel strikes on Tehran. Loomer's reporting, notably, had also led to the revoking of green cards or visas of the niece and grand-niece of a former top Iranian military leader, Gen Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike near the Baghdad airport in Iraq in 2020.
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Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, who was not named, were arrested by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after Loomer's report identified them. In her recent report, the far-right activist and longtime Donald Trump supporter has noted “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.”
Amid all this, here's all you need to know about Dorsa Sattari-Khavas.
Who is Dorsa Sattari-Khavas? Former Iran VP's daughter in US
Sattari-Khavas is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas, the report notes.
She carries out research on synthetic biology. It also includes work on programmable RNA platforms, microbial engineering for environmental sensing, sulfite reductase switches, and bioelectronic systems, as per Loomer's report.
As per a Rice University thesis repository acknowledgment and other academic records, aspects of Sattari-Khavas' lab-related work was sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Office under Grant Number W911NF-22-1-0239, Loomer also added. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation (HHS/NIH), Department of Energy, and the Office of Naval Research also got funding in the case.
Sattari-Khavas is noted as the lead author in the paper, published in April 2026, which is titled Microbial spies and bloggers: programming cells to convert environmental information into discernible signals. She's also worked as Teaching Assistant for a class on Advanced Topics in Thermodynamics.
According to Loomer, Sattari-Khavas has been praised by officials at Rice University, including the head of her department. She also recently appeared on a Reddit AMA representing her department.
