Iran acknowledged for the first time that it had an open case before its Revolutionary Court on the disappearance of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished from Iran’s Kish Island more than a decade ago.
Iran said Sunday the case was a “missing person” file and not an indication that he was being prosecuted. Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi’s said Levinson “has no judicial or criminal case in any Islamic Republic of Iran court whatsoever.” Iran acknowledged the open case in a filing to the United Nations, according to the Associated Press.
The U.S. government is offering a $25 million reward for information on the 71-year-old, who is believed to have been abducted on March 9, 2007. He is the longest-held hostage in U.S. history.
The United States for years described Levinson as a private citizen who flew to an Iranian resort for private business in March 2007. After a meeting with an American fugitive wanted for killing a former Iranian diplomat, he checked out of his hotel, got in a taxi, and disappeared.
Levinson was actually working for the CIA, according to a yearslong investigation. A team of analysts, who did not have the authority to run spy operations, was paying him to gather intelligence on the Iranian government.
Three veteran analysts were forced out of the CIA and seven others were disciplined for the rogue operation. The CIA paid Levinson’s family a $2.5 million annuity in order to stop a lawsuit that would have revealed details about his work.
There has been no sign of Levinson’s whereabouts since proof-of-life photos and video were received in late 2010 and early 2011.
Levinson was a 28-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI. When the Soviet Union collapsed, he focused his career on Russian organized crime. He retired from the FBI in 1998 and worked as a private investigator.
He was hired as a contractor for the CIA to write reports based on his travel and his expertise on money laundering. But officials said Levinson was gathering intelligence, and the analysts running the operation didn’t follow basic CIA protocol in documenting and approving his activities.
Levinson emailed his CIA contact on Feb. 5, 2007, to say he was gathering intelligence on Iranian corruption. He said he was developing an informant who had access to the government and they planned to meet in Dubai or an island nearby. Levinson’s contract with the CIA had run out by that point, and he asked if he could conduct the meeting with his own funds.
On March 8, 2007, Levinson flew to Kish Island to meet with Dawud Salahuddin, who admitted to killing an Iranian diplomat in Maryland in 1980 and fled to Iran. The hotel’s registry showed Levinson checked out of his hotel the following day. The photos released of Levinson in 2010 and 2011 showed he had lost weight and grown long hair and a beard. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit.
President Trump brought up Levinson’s case on Twitter late Sunday.
“If Iran is able to turn over to the U.S. kidnapped former FBI Agent Robert A. Levinson, who has been missing in Iran for 12 years, it would be a very positive step,” he said.
If Iran is able to turn over to the U.S. kidnapped former FBI Agent Robert A. Levinson, who has been missing in Iran for 12 years, it would be a very positive step. At the same time, upon information & belief, Iran is, & has been, enriching uranium. THAT WOULD BE A VERY BAD STEP!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2019
