US sanctions Iranian officials over Robert Levinson’s abduction
The US government believes Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai were involved in the abduction, detention and probable death of the retired FBI agent.
The United States on Monday sanctioned two Iranian intelligence officials over the kidnapping and detention of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who vanished nearly 14 years ago in Iran and is believed to have died in regime custody.
The US Treasury Department blacklisted Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai, two high-ranking Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security officials, in what marked the first public actions the US government has taken against the Iranian government over Levinson, the longest-held hostage in American history.
“Iranian leaders have lied over and over again about what happened to Mr. Levinson, and that continues to this day,” a senior government official said on a call with reporters Monday. “The US will no longer accept Iranian excuses for what they know they have done to Mr. Levinson.”
Levinson disappeared on Iran’s remote Kish Island in March 2007 during an unauthorized CIA mission that the US government for years claimed was a private business trip. He hasn’t been seen or heard from publicly since then, and the Iranian government denied holding the veteran agent in its custody.
