In its rush to shower Iran with concessions and conclude a new nuclear deal, the Biden administration continues to ignore the need for clarity on the Bob Levinson matter, America’s longest and still unresolved hostage case.
The facts of the case are undisputed.
In March 2007, Levinson, a retired FBI agent, visited Kish Island, a visa-free Iranian resort island, to interview Dawud Salahuddin, an American convert to Islam who fled to Iran after carrying out a 1980 assassination on behalf of the revolutionary regime. Salahuddin (formerly known as David Belfield) had told Levinson that he could speak to him about a money-laundering case Levinson was investigating on behalf of private clients. Once on Kish, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained Levinson. They soon went quiet, but, in 2010, the family received a proof of life video and, the following year, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed that Levinson was still alive.
President Barack Obama, however, did not want to let Levinson’s case interfere with his efforts for rapprochement.
Obama granted the cash-strapped Iranian regime $4 billion just to agree to negotiate, without any strings attached. Subsequently, the 2015 nuclear deal increased that take-home for the Iranian regime and its IRGC by at least an order of magnitude, and likely much more. Obama’s subsequent hostage ransom agreement gave the Revolutionary Guards an additional $1.4 billion. At no point did the Obama team make a truthful accounting for Levinson to be a condition of continuing.
Two and a half years ago, the Levinson family finally received word that Bob was dead. Contrary to Iranian public claims, all available information shows he died in Iranian custody. A U.S. court reviewed the evidence and ordered that the Iranian government pay the Levinson family $1.4 billion. Iran refuses to honor the judgment. Biden’s team continues to refuse to demand a full accounting for Bob, despite his long career and many sacrifices as a U.S. government employee dedicated to preserving America’s national security. As Biden’s team again offers Iran a deal worth upward of $100 billion, the White House has leverage but remains silent.
The Iranian government knows what happened to Bob. The Biden administration should not simply accept Iranian denials that they have his body, for this could simply be wordplay to hide the fact that they murdered, dismembered, and disposed of his remains in the same way that Saudi operatives would later do to Jamal Khashoggi. Biden’s posturing on Khashoggi is empty if he not only turns a blind eye but also lavishly awards a regime that might have done the same exact thing to a former U.S. civil servant. Iran may fear embarrassment should the truth come out about Levinson’s final days and the regime’s earlier lies. So be it. The White House and FBI should not help whitewash the truth.
Biden and Special Envoy Robert Malley may see the Levinson case as an unnecessary impediment, but they are mistaken. Only when the Islamic Republic learns that the U.S. does not leave its men behind can Washington expect Tehran to take it seriously.
Michael Rubin (@mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
