US blames Iran in abduction, death of ex-FBI agent Levinson

Trump ministration for first time on Monday formally blamed Iran for presumed death of retired FBI nt Robert Levinson, publicly identifying two Iranian intelligence officers believed responsible for his abduction.

Levinson disappeared in Iran under mysterious circumstances more than a dece ago, and though US diplomats and investigators have long said y thought he was taken by Iranian government nts, Monday's anuncement in final weeks of Trump ministration was most definitive assignment of blame to date.

Besides blaming two high-ranking intelligence officers by name, US officials said Iranian regime sanctioned plot that led to Levinson's abduction and lied for years about its involvement in his disappearance through disinformation campaigns aimed at covering up government's role.

anuncement comes nine months after US officials revealed that y h concluded that Levinson may have passed some time ago though y did t disclose at time information that led m to that assessment.

Officials on Monday would t describe any ditional information that led m to believe Levinson h died in captivity, except to say that all evidence y h pointed in that direction, or how y came to identify role of two individual intelligence officers.

Officials said y were acting w, one month before Trump leaves office, t for any political reasons but simply because y h finally accumulated eugh information to formally hold Iran accountable. 

y also said that agreement with Iran should be reached without a deal to free remaining handful of US citizens imprisoned in that country.

Levinson vanished on March 9, 2007, when he was scheduled to meet a source on 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 h been sent on a mission by CIA analysts who h authority to run such an operation.

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 Guantanamo Bay prison. Even n, his whereabouts and fate were t kwn, and 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 country was in uncertain terms responsible for Levinson's host-taking and torture.

In vember 2019, Iranian government unexpectedly responded to a United Nations query by saying that Levinson was subject of an open-case in Iranian Revolutionary Court.

Although development gave family a burst of hope, Iran clarified that “open-case” was simply an investigation into his disappearance. 

(IM CREDITS:AP)