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The Trump administration for the first time on Monday formally blamed Iran for the presumed death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, publicly identifying two Iranian intelligence officers believed responsible for his abduction.
Levinson disappeared in Iran under mysterious circumstances more than a decade ago, and though US diplomats and investigators have long said they thought he was taken by Iranian government agents, Monday’s announcement was the most definitive assignment of blame to date.
Besides blaming two high-ranking intelligence officers by name, US officials said the Iranian regime sanctioned the plot that led to Levinson’s abduction and lied for years about its involvement in his disappearance through disinformation campaigns aimed at covering up the government’s role.
The announcement comes nine months after US officials revealed that they had concluded that Levinson “may have passed some time ago” though they did not disclose at the time the information that led them to that assessment.
Officials on Monday said they were acting now because they had finally accumulated enough information to formally hold Iran accountable. They also noted that no agreement with Iran should be reached without a deal to free the remaining handful of US citizens imprisoned in that country.
Disappeared in March of 2007
Levinson vanished on March 9, 2007, when he was scheduled to meet a source on the Iranian island of Kish. For years, US officials would say only that Levinson was working independently on a private investigation. But a 2013 Associated Press investigation revealed that Levinson had been sent on a mission by CIA analysts who had no authority to run such an operation.
The family received a video in late 2010 as well as proof-of-life photographs in 2011 in which he appeared disheveled with a long beard and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit like those given to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Even then, his whereabouts and fate were not known, and the Iran government has persistently denied having any information about Levinson.
Earlier this year, a federal judge in Washington held Iran liable for his disappearance, saying the country was “in no uncertain terms” responsible for Levinson’s “hostage-taking and torture.”
In November 2019, the Iranian government unexpectedly responded to a United Nations query by saying that Levinson was the subject of an “open-case” in Iranian Revolutionary Court. Although the development gave the family a burst of hope, Iran clarified that the “open-case” was simply an investigation into his disappearance.
In a statement released Monday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “The United States Government is initiating the first public actions against the Iranian government to hold them accountable for the abduction of Robert Levinson—the longest ever held American hostage. The United States will relentlessly pursue all others involved as the investigation continues.”
“Since the beginning of this administration, President Trump has made it clear that Iran will be held accountable for its use of detention and hostage-taking as a tool of “diplomacy” and that the United States will no longer accept Iranian excuses for what we know they have done to Mr. Levinson,” the statement continued
“No family should ever endure the pain the Levinson family has for nearly 14 years. Iran is responsible and can end this nightmare by answering questions for which only they hold the answers. Any future talks with Iran must include a resolution to this case. We stand by the Levinson family, and we will never cease in our efforts to bring justice for Bob and his family,” the statement concluded.
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