1,000 Days Later: Ex-FBI Agent Robert Levinson Still Missing After Disappearing in Iran
Clinton and Levinson's family urge Iranian cooperation to bring him home.
Dec. 2, 2009 — -- On the 1,000th day since the disappearance of U.S. citizen and former FBI agent Robert Levinson in Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once again called on the Iranian government to turn over any details they have on the father of seven's whereabouts.
"While Iranian authorities promised to share information about their investigation, that promise has yet to be fulfilled," Clinton said in a statement today.
Clinton urged Iran to provide what it knows about the case to both the Levinson family and the Swiss Embassy in Tehran – which is representing the U.S. because of the lack of normal diplomatic relations with Iran.
Click here to read Clinton's full statement.
Levinson's wife of 35 years, Christine Levinson, also renewed her plea to Iranian officials to aid in finding her husband. She said she is still waiting for an investigation report promised to her by Iranian officials this summer and is hopeful Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will intervene in the case.
"My family and I have spent almost three years seeking answers from the Iranian government, which I believe has the power to help us," Christine Levinson, who said she struggles to wake up each morning not knowing what happened to her husband, said. "We continue to ask for their assistance."
Click here to read Christine Levinson's full statement.
Levinson, now 61, was last seen March 9, 2007, while he was on a business trip to Kish Island, Iran. At the time he disappeared, he was working for a private investigative firm and had left the FBI 10 years prior.
Iran Officials Know Something, U.S. State Dept. Said
According to associates, Levinson had traveled to Kish to meet with an American fugitive accused of murdering a former Iranian official in suburban Washington in 1980.
U.S. authorities said he was last seen after checking into a local hotel for the meeting.
Since then, the U.S. State Department has said it has been stonewalled by Iran and believes officials there know much more about the case than they have shared.
The Levinson family believes Robert Levinson is still in Iran and says his passport has not surfaced in any other country. Since his disappearance, he has missed the birth of a grandchild among many more of life's celebrations, his wife voicing her desperation that he be returned before missing any more.
"We can only hope and pray that his place at the head of our family, which has remained empty for 1,000 days, will finally find its missing occupant – a wonderful, loving, husband and father whose family desperately needs him – in the days to come," said Christine Levinson.
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According to associates, Levinson had traveled to Kish to meet with an American fugitive accused of murdering a former Iranian official in suburban Washington in 1980.
U.S. authorities said he was last seen after checking into a local hotel for the meeting.
Since then, the U.S. State Department has said it has been stonewalled by Iran and believes officials there know much more about the case than they have shared.
The Levinson family believes Robert Levinson is still in Iran and says his passport has not surfaced in any other country. Since his disappearance, he has missed the birth of a grandchild among many more of life's celebrations, his wife voicing her desperation that he be returned before missing any more.
"We can only hope and pray that his place at the head of our family, which has remained empty for 1,000 days, will finally find its missing occupant – a wonderful, loving, husband and father whose family desperately needs him – in the days to come," said Christine Levinson.