Iran has no knowledge of former FBI agent's whereabouts: Iranian official

[March 26, 2020]    DUBAI (Reuters) - Tehran has no knowledge about the whereabouts of a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in March 2007, a spokesman for the Iranian mission at the United Nations said on Thursday.

Christine Levinson (R), wife of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, watches as her son Daniel Levinson displays a web print of his father's picture to journalists while attending a news conference at Switzerland's embassy in Tehran December 22, 2007. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN)

The family of the man, Robert Levinson, said earlier that he had died in Iranian custody.

"Iran has always maintained that its officials have no knowledge of Mr. Levinson's whereabouts, and that he is not in Iranian custody. Those facts have not changed," Iranian mission spokesman Alireza Miryousefi said in a Tweet.

Levinson’s family said in a posting on social media and a website on Wednesday: "Today with aching hearts, we are sharing devastating news about Robert Levinson, the head of our family."

U.S. President Donald Trump said he had not been told that Levinson was dead. White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said later that an investigation was still going on but "we believe that Bob Levinson may have passed away some time ago".

Tehran denied knowledge of Levinson’s whereabouts last November, when it said a legal case involving him was under way at a revolutionary court that handles security-related cases. Levinson went missing on Iran's Kish island in the Gulf.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Alison Williams and Angus MacSwan)

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.