U.S. Urges Iran To Provide 'Credible' Information About 'Abducted' Ex-FBI Agent
The United States is calling on the Iranian government to provide "credible answers" to what happened to a former FBI agent who was "abducted" while traveling in Iran in 2007.
"The United States will never forget Bob
Levinson," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a March 9 statement
marking the 14th anniversary of his disappearance.
Blinken also called on Iran to "immediately and safely
release" all U.S. nationals "unjustly held captive" in the
country, saying: "The abhorrent act of unjust detentions for political
gain must cease immediately."
Levinson, who was born in March 1948, disappeared when he
traveled to the Iranian Kish Island resort in March 2007. He was reportedly working
for the CIA as a contractor at the time.
The United States has repeatedly called on Iran to help
locate Levinson and bring him home, but Iranian officials said they have no
information about his fate.
However, when he disappeared, an Iranian government-linked
media outlet broadcast a story saying he was "in the hands of Iranian
security forces."
In December 2020, the previous U.S. administration imposed
sanctions on two Iranian intelligence agents believed to be "involved in
the abduction, detention, and probable death" of the former agent.
Two Iranian Officials Sanctioned
Separately, the United States on March 9 blacklisted two
officials with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) accused of
involvement in “gross” violations of human rights committed during 2019 and
2020 protests in Iran.
IRGC interrogators Ali Hemmatian and Masud Safdari and their
immediate family members are now ineligible for entry into the United States,
Blinken said in a statement, adding that the two men were involved in "the
torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment (CIDTP) of
political prisoners and persons detained" during the protests.
The United States "will continue to consider all
appropriate tools to impose costs on those responsible for human rights
violations and abuses in Iran," he said.
There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.
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