The FBI has announced a $25m reward in the manhunt for two Iranian intelligence officers believed to be responsible for the nearly 18-year disappearance of retired FBI Special Agent Robert Levinson.
The bureau has released posters seeking information on the two men with a combined reward of up to $25 million - $5 million from the FBI and $20 million from the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program - for information leading to Levinson's location.
The two Iranian intelligence officers identified by the FBI are Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai. The FBI alleges that Baseri and Khazai, acting as officials of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), orchestrated Levinson's abduction, subsequent detention and likely death.
The former FBI agent vanished during a freelance investigation in Kish Island, southern Iran, in 2007. His disappearance has remained an open case for the FBI, which has vowed to bring him home.
Iranian officials have never acknowledged detaining Levinson.
"The FBI remains steadfast in our commitment to return Bob to his family," said Sanjay Virmani, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division.
“Our extensive investigation continues to develop new leads and intelligence, and we will pursue all options to hold every Iranian official involved in his abduction accountable.”
The US Treasury Department previously sanctioned both Baseri and Khazai in December 2020 for their roles in Levinson's disappearance.
His family announced that he was presumed dead in March 2020, on the advice of US officials.
The Levinsons said in a 2023 statement, “We will never stop demanding that Iranian leaders answer for what happened to Robert Levinson, the greatest man we have ever known. His abduction on Iranian soil in March 2007, his years of imprisonment with a total lack of any human rights or decency, and ultimately his murder, are on their hands.”
