Washington (AP) – The Trump administration has for the first time blamed Iran for the death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson., The public identification of Iranian intelligence officials is believed to be the reason for his abduction and the imposition of sanctions against them.
Levinson went missing in Iran under mysterious circumstances more than a decade ago, although US diplomats and investigators say he was thought to have been abducted by Iranian government agents, but the Trump administration’s final announcement on Monday was the most decisive date for the indictment.
The announcement is the latest in a series of crackdowns on Iran by the Trump administration, which are working to confirm an aggressive stance that will complicate any attempt to radically change the incoming President Joe Biden and his National Security Council with the next inauguration. Month. U.S. officials made it clear Monday that any agreement with Iran to release Americans detained there should not be finalized.
In addition to naming two top intelligence officials, US officials also said that the Iranian regime had allowed the conspiracy that led to Levinson’s abduction and had lied for years about his disappearance through false propaganda aimed at diverting responsibility and covering up the role of the government. .
“The abduction of Mr. Levinson in Iran is an outrageous example of the Iranian regime’s willingness to commit unjust acts,” Treasury Secretary Steven Munuchin said in a statement.
Iranian intelligence officials Mohammed Basheri and Ahmed Kasai are said to have been involved in Levinson’s abduction and death. Under sanctions, any property or assets they hold in the United States will be frozen. While it is not possible for them to have bank accounts in the United States, sanctions may limit their movements or financial transactions outside of Iran. U.S. officials say the men met with intelligence officials from other countries and led the delegation.
There was no immediate reaction from the Iranian state media on Monday night to the announcement.
In a statement, the Levinson family thanked Trump executives and said in a statement on Monday that “it’s a long way from getting justice for him, but it’s an important one.”
“Robert Levinson will never come back to his family alive because of the brutal, cynical and inhumane actions of the Iranian authorities,” the family said. “Because of these men and others like them, our wonderful husband, father and grandfather died alone, thousands of miles from all those he loved.”
Monday’s announcement of the Trump administration’s latest aggression against Iran since the president pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal two years ago is a sign of foreign policy policy signed by pioneer Barack Obama.
Since then, the Trump administration has continued to put pressure on Iran to re-impose sanctions and carry out other actions, including the killing of the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in a drone strike at an airport in Baghdad this year..
The move has the appearance of retaliatory attacks on Iranian-backed militants in Iraq, sanctions against Iranian delegates in Lebanon and Yemen, and the recent killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist outside Tehran. Trump is seeking to replace President-elect Joe Biden when he takes office in January.
Biden has said he wants to restart the 2015 nuclear deal, but wants to improve and expand it. If the situation escalates over the next five weeks it will be harder to realize those opportunities.
A month before Trump stepped down, officials said they were now announcing sanctions not for any political reason, but because they had finally gathered enough information to hold Iran accountable. They also said that any agreement with Iran should not be reached without an agreement to release the three Americans in the next administration.
The announcement comes nine months after U.S. officials revealed that they had decided that Levinson “may have passed some time ago.” They did not release the information that led to that assessment at the time.
Officials on Monday will not describe any intelligence other than how Levinson came to identify all the evidence they pointed out in the direction of his death in captivity or the role of two private intelligence officers.
Levinson passed away on March 9, 2007, When he was scheduled to meet with a source on the Iranian island of Kish. For years, U.S. officials would only say that Levinson was working independently on a private investigation. But a 2013 Associated Press investigation revealed that Levinson was sent by CIA investigators and had no authority to carry out such an operation. He is now 72 years old.
The family received a video in late 2010 and life-proof photos in 2011 in which he appeared to be shaking with a long beard and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit similar to the one given to inmates at Guantanamo Bay prison. Even then, his whereabouts and fate are unknown, and the Iranian government continues to deny any information about Levinson.
In a statement, FBI Director Christopher Vare said, “This situation is unique because Bob has served as a special agent for 22 years and will always be part of the FBI family.”
Earlier this year, a federal judge in Washington took responsibility for Iran’s disappearance, saying the country was “not uncertain” about Levinson’s “hostage-taking and torture.”
____
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and John Cambrell in Dubai contributed to the report.
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP