Mohammad Reza Bateni (Persian: محمدرضا باطنی; 4 January 1934 – 11 May 2021) was an Iranian linguist and scholar. He graduated as bachelor in English language and literature from Daneshsara-ye Aali (Institute of Higher Education) in Tehran. He obtained his Master and Doctoral degrees, in linguistics, from University of Leeds and University College London, respectively. Bateni also worked at MIT and University of California, Berkeley, as a researcher and professor. He retired from Tehran University in 1981.