The United States has for the first time accused Iran of direct involvement in the “probable death” of former FBI agent — and suspected CIA spy — Bob Levinson, who vanished 13 years ago.
Releasing the finding a month before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, Donald Trump’s administration urged his successor to prioritise the release of at least three Americans in Iranian custody as part of an expected resumption of diplomacy.
“The government of Iran pledged to provide assistance in bringing Bob Levinson home, but it has never followed through,” FBI director Christopher Wray said. “The truth is that Iranian intelligence officers — with the approval of senior Iranian officials — were involved in Bob’s abduction and detention.”
The Treasury Department announced that it was imposing sanctions on two Iranians identified as intelligence agents, Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai, saying they “were involved in the abduction, detention and probable death of Mr Levinson”.
The sanctions in themselves were largely symbolic as Iranian agents were unlikely to have bank accounts in the US, although the move will impede their international travel.
The case of Levinson, who disappeared when George W. Bush was president and would have turned 72 this year, was one of the most mysterious involving an Americans going missing in Iran.
Read the article in The Australian (AP).