US says former FBI agent likely dead in Iran

WASHINGTON D.C. - The family of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in March 2007 after traveling to an island controlled by Iran, said on Wednesday it now believes Levinson died in Iranian custody, based on information from US officials.

Iran meanwhile released a statement implicitly denying that the missing US citizen had died in its custody, restating its longstanding position that he left the Islamic republic "years ago".

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had not been told that Levinson was dead, but things did not look good and a lot of people thought Levinson had died. White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said in a statement later: "While the investigation is ongoing, we believe that Bob Levinson may have passed away some time ago."

US officials reportedly communicated the news to Levinson's family in a meeting in Washington in recent weeks. The Associated Press (AP) news agency quoted a source familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, who said the information about Levinson had come from Iran's foreign minister.

Levinson's family said in a posting on Facebook and a website: "Today with aching hearts, we are sharing devastating news about Robert Levinson, the head of our family."

"We recently received information from US officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian Custody. We don't know when or how he died, only that it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic," the family said.

The family said they did not know when, or even if, Levinson's body would be returned to them, calling it "the very definition of cruelty."

Trump called Levinson "a gentleman" and "outstanding." He added, in apparent reference to what US officials had told the family: "They've been making the statement to the family, I believe."

"It's not looking good; he wasn't well for years anyway, in Iran," Trump said. "It's not looking promising ... we feel terribly for the family."

"It's not looking great, but I won't accept that he's dead," the president added. "They haven't told us that he's dead, but a lot of people are thinking that that's the case."

O'Brien added in his statement: "Iran must provide a complete accounting of what occurred with Bob Levinson before the United States can fully accept what happened in this case."

In response, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a statement that, "based on credible evidence, (Levinson) left Iran years ago for an unknown destination."

He added that Iran had done everything it could to trace what happened after he left but had found "no evidence of him being alive".

Mousavi called on Washington to make an official announcement if Levinson's death was confirmed, without "politicising and exploiting the family's feelings".

Iran's chief press officer at the United Nations Alireza Miryousefi had said earlier that Tehran had "no knowledge" of Levinson's whereabouts.

Unorthodox contract

Levinson is one of a number of Americans who have disappeared in, but his case has been among the most perplexing, with his family until now insisting he was alive.

Levinson disappeared after flying from Dubai to Kish Island in the Gulf in March 2007. There he met with Daoud Salahuddin, an American Islamic militant who fled to Iran while facing charges in the murder of an Iranian embassy official based in Washington.

Levinson, working then as a private investigator, was seeking information on alleged corruption involving former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his family, said sources familiar with his work.

For years, US officials would say only that Levinson was working independently on a private investigation. But a 2013 AP investigation revealed that Levinson had been sent on a mission by CIA analysts who had no authority to run such an operation.

Months after he disappeared, US government sources acknowledged that before traveling to Kish Island, Levinson had maintained an unorthodox contractual relationship with the analytical branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. A handful of CIA officials were forced out of the agency and several more were disciplined after an internal agency investigation.

The Iranian government has never publicly acknowledged any role in Levinson's abduction, though at the time of his disappearance a government-affiliated media outlet broadcast a story saying he was "in the hands of Iranian security forces."

Some US investigators at least until recently believed Levinson was still alive, while officials at other US agencies believe he died some time, perhaps years, ago. 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.

In November, 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.

The announcement of his death comes just weeks after 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.” The judge's decision followed a weeks-long trial of emotional testimony from Levinson's family, including from each of his seven children.

The Trump administration has made it a priority to seek the release of American hostages and prisoners detained overseas. Last week, administration officials touted the release from Lebanon of a New Hampshire restaurant owner jailed on decades-old allegations and the medical furlough of a Navy veteran from an Iranian prison.