Bloomberg: Iran said today it will investigate the disappearance of a former FBI agent, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. By Judy Mathewson
April 4 (Bloomberg) — Iran said today it will investigate the disappearance of a former FBI agent, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Responding to a U.S. request for information or help, Iran asked for more details about the missing man’s itinerary, McCormack said. Iran’s message was relayed through Swiss intermediaries in Iran.
“We take this request for information on the Iranians’ part as actually an attempt to try to clarify who this person is, where he came in, in order to help determine where he is and what his current situation is right now,” McCormack told reporters in Washington.
News of Iran’s cooperation in the matter came on the same day that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised to free 15 captured British sailors and marines. The announcement ended 13 days of tension between the U.K. and Iran.
The retired agent was identified by the Associated Press as Robert Levinson, 59, of Coral Springs, Florida. He was last heard from around March 11 while he was on Kish Island, where he was working for an independent filmmaker, AP said.
Levinson wasn’t doing any kind of work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation when he was in Iran, the Washington Post reported.
The U.S. doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Iran. Neutral Swiss diplomats act as intermediaries when messages must pass between the two countries.
