Free Republic

Missing a Father in Iran Daniel Levinson June 22, 2008 It has been 471 days since my father, Robert "Bob" Levinson, went missing in Iran -- more than the 444 days that 52 American diplomats were held hostage after they were seized in Iran in 1979. These past 15 months have brought my mother, four sisters, two brothers and me nothing but grief and sadness. We are no closer to finding answers than we were when our father disappeared March 9, 2007, on Kish Island, Iran. He was on a private business trip, and I emphasize "private" because, although he...

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) defended himself after news broke on Tuesday of a Department of Justice (DOJ) probe reportedly investigating whether the lawmaker had sexual relations with a teenager, claiming he was the victim of “an organized criminal extortion” involving a former DOJ official. “Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name,” Gaetz said in a series of tweets on Tuesday. “We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter and my father has even been...

An American man who disappeared in Iran more than six years ago had been working for the CIA in what U.S. intelligence officials describe as a rogue operation that led to a major shake-up in the spy agency. Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent, traveled to the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007 to investigate corruption at a time when he was discussing the renewal of a CIA contract he had held for several years. He also inquired about getting re­imbursed for the Iran trip by the agency before he departed, according to former and current U.S. intelligence officials....

WASHINGTON - Jewish-American Robert Levinson was not included in a prisoner exchange with Iran that came as the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal and the West rolled back sanctions. Iran on Saturday released five Americans it was holding in its prisons or in detention, four of them as part of a prison swap which included the release of Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post journalist detained on espionage charges since 2014. The exchange comes on "implementation day" of the sanctions relief for nuclear restrictions deal Iran concluded last year with the United States and five other...

Former FBI agent missing in Iran still alive: Clinton WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. has received indications recently that a former FBI agent who disappeared when visiting Iran four years ago is still alive, said U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton on Thursday. Clinton said in a statement that the U.S. citizen, named Bob Levinson, is now being held "somewhere in southeast Asia." "We respectfully request the Iranian government to undertake humanitarian efforts to safely return and reunite Bob with his family," she said, adding that the U.S. would appreciate the Iranian government's efforts in this regard. Bob Levinson, an...

Iran's state broadcaster, Irib, has sacked the head of a regional TV channel after it broadcast a Jackie Chan film without removing a sex scene. A video posted online apparently by a viewer on Kish Island showed the Hong Kong martial arts star having sex with a woman in the film Shinjuku Incident. Iranian media said the "immoral" scene was aired by Kish TV in "total violation of Irib's regulations". Physical contact between men and women is not permitted on screen in Iran. Censors are also said to be required to remove men and women exchanging "tender words or jokes",...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry marked the eighth year since the disappearance in Iran of Jewish-American Robert Levinson with a plea for his safe return. Kerry in a statement issued Monday called on the government of Iran to “work cooperatively with us on the investigation into his disappearance so we can ensure his safe return.” Levinson, 67, of Coral Springs, Florida, disappeared from Kish Island. The statement said Levinson is one of the longest-held American citizens in history and that he has “spent more than 2,900 days separated from those who love him.” -excerpt- The FBI announced that it...

Former FBI agent missing in Iran photographed in Guantánamo jumpsuit By Barney Henderson 8:44PM GMT 08 Jan 2013 The family of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran in 2007, have released pictures of him dressed in an orange jumpsuit like a Guantánamo Bay prisoner, as they continue to hold hope that he is still alive.

Long after he vanished in Iran, retired FBI agent Robert Levinson reappeared in a video and a series of photographs sent to his family over the past year, transforming a mysterious disappearance into a hostage standoff with an unknown kidnapper, The Associated Press has learned.

Iran May Consider American's Request August 05, 2007 Associated Press Nasser Karimi TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's Foreign Ministry said Sunday it would consider allowing the wife of an American man who vanished in Iran earlier this year to visit the Islamic country to search for him. "The request has not officially been relayed to us yet. If it is conveyed, we will review it," ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters. On Thursday, Christine Levinson, the wife of missing former FBI agent Robert Levinson said she was planning to travel to Iran in search of her husband even though she...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A U.S. senator revealed Tuesday that he believes a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran nearly two years ago is being held in a secret prison there. Sen. Bill Nelson shed new light on the disappearance of Robert Levinson during a confirmation hearing for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington. Levinson, of Coral Springs, Fla., was last seen on Iran's Kish island in March 2007 where he had gone to seek information for a client of his security firm.

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December 3, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/levinson120309.htm FBI Continues to Seek Information about Robert Levinson Retired FBI Special Agent Missing for 1,000 Days Today marks 1,000 days since American citizen Robert Levinson—a retired FBI special agent—went missing on March 9, 2007 during a business trip to Kish Island, Iran. As the FBI is the lead agency in the investigation of the disappearance of Americans overseas, we continue to seek information about Mr. Levinson’s whereabouts, well-being, and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. Although the FBI has not received any information from Iranian authorities to date about Mr....

March 24, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-nsd-264.html Irish Trading Firm and Its Officers Charged in Scheme to Supply Iran with Sensitive U.S. Technology WASHINGTON – An Irish trading company and three of its officers have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and other aircraft components from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear...

Wife of missing ex-FBI agent pleads with Iran May 9, 2007 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The wife of a retired FBI agent who has been missing in Iran for months met with U.S. diplomats in Washington Wednesday. Christine Levinson is trying find information about Robert Levinson's whereabouts. She told CNN she is convinced her husband is still in Iran, and she has appealed directly to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad through a letter. "Because he is the president of Iran, he has the ability to get information and help me find Bob and bring him home," she told CNN's Jill Dougherty in an...

U.S. seeks info on American missing in Iran Former FBI agent was last seen in early March Associated Press April 2, 2007 WASHINGTON - The government is seeking information from Iran about a former FBI agent reported missing while on a business trip to the Islamic republic several weeks ago, officials said Monday. FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said the agent retired nearly a decade ago, and appeared to be in Iran on private business. He said the missing man was last seen in Iran in early March, and was not working for the FBI as a contractor. “At this time,...

Former FBI agent missing in Iran By PAT MILTON, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - An American who disappeared in Iran while on a business trip is a former FBI agent in New York and Florida known as a meticulous investigator and an expert in busting Italian and Russian mobsters. The retired agent was identified as Robert Levinson, 59, of Coral Springs, Fla., a U.S. official familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He was last heard from around March 11 while in a coastal area of southern Iran, where he was working for an independent filmmaker,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iran said Wednesday it will look into the disappearance of an American man in Iran, a State Department spokesman said. The missing man has been identified as a former FBI agent. Iran replied to a U.S. request for information or help, and asked for additional details about the missing man's travel itinerary, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. The response came through Swiss intermediaries in Iran. ``We'll see if they come up with anything, but they certainly didn't have any specific information,'' about the man, Casey said. The United States and Iran have no diplomatic relations, but...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A former FBI agent is being held by Iranian authorities, the Financial Times reported on Friday, but U.S. officials said they were still unable to verify the whereabouts of the missing American. Florida resident and ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson went missing while on a visit to the Gulf island of Kish in Iran early in March. His family has not heard from him since and U.S. officials told Reuters they do not have any valid leads. Diplomats fear the case of Levinson could mark a new twist in apparent tit-for-tat detentions involving the United States, Britain and...

Missing American Feared a Victim of 'Dirty War' April 13, 2007 The Financial Times Guy Dinmore in Washington and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran Just why Robert Levinson, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and now private investigator, should venture into Iran to meet a American fugitive wanted for murder in the US remains a mystery that the highest Bush administration authorities are trying to unravel. As the Financial Times revealed this week, Mr Levinson disappeared on March 8 after a six-hour meeting on the Iranian island of Kish with Dawud Salahuddin, an American who converted to Islam and was...