Tag Archives: Iran

Marking 1,000th day of disappearance, White House and Sec'ty Clinton repeat demand for information on Levinson whereabouts

From the Miami Herald:

U.S. steps up pressure on Iran over missing ex-FBI agent, by Lesley Clark of the McClatchy Newspapers:

WASHINGTON — The White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton upped the pressure Thursday on Iran to divulge any information it has about Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing from a Persian Gulf island in March 2007.

The statement from the White House came as the Coral Springs, Fla., man’s family marked the 1,000th day of his disappearance with meetings at the State Department and the FBI. National Security Adviser James Jones also met with the family “to reassure them that Bob’s case remains a priority for the United States,” the White House said.

The FBI and the State Department called for cooperation, with the FBI — the lead agency that investigates the disappearances of Americans overseas — saying that it has “not received any information from Iranian authorities to date.”

Clinton echoed Gibbs’ remarks and said that although Iranian authorities had promised the family that they’d share information about the investigation, “that promise has yet to be fulfilled.”

Further:

Family of missing former FBI agent marks 1,000th day of his disappearance

U.S. calls on Iran to help find missing Broward man

We feign no neutrality in this matter: the Administration’s efforts are appreciated, and Bob Levinson is my dear friend, generous colleague, mentor, and as good a person as I have ever known. We urge the Administration to continue to pursue the matter, and Iranian government to do the right thing, and take whatever steps are necessary to locate him and return him to his family and friends.



Iran and Britain expel diplomats after Iranian presidential election – Wikinews, the free news source

Via WikiNews:Iran and Britain expel diplomats after Iranian presidential election.

We note that while attacks from President Obama’s political right have urged him to be more aggressive, in the UK David Cameron has reminded the P.M. that the “Iranian elections [are] an internal Iranian conflict, between Iranians and other Iranians.” If this ends with a full end of diplomatic relations, what impact will this have for formal and informal communications and intelligence-gathering between Iran and the west? Not good, we suspect.

The expulsions come in the wake of the recent Iranian presidential election, and hostility directed by Iran to the United Kingdom by Iranian leaders and official news services, including statements made by Supreme Leader of IranAli Khamenei

calling the British government the “most evil” of foreign governments.

Commenting upon the expulsion as it was announced, Leader of the Opposition in the British House of Commons, David Cameron , urged people to remember that this was not a conflict between Iran and the United Kingdom, but was an internal Iranian conflict, between Iranians and other Iranians.

Continue reading →

Politicians help family of man kidnapped in Mexico – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com/Senator Nelson points out similarity to Levinson case

Politicians help family of man kidnapped in Mexico

Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen met with the family of Felix Batista — a Miami local who was kidnapped six months ago in Mexico — to discuss how the government can help bring Batista back home.

BY PERRY STEIN

pstein@MiamiHerald.com

The family of an American kidnapped in Mexico has teamed up with U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Sen. Bill Nelson with the hopes of bringing their relative back home safely to Miami.

Felix Batista, 53, went missing from a restaurant in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila about six months ago. Ironically, Batista specializes in resolving kidnapping cases and was in Mexico to speak to businessmen about avoiding abductions.

No ransom demand has been made and there has been no word of his whereabouts since his disappearance last December.

On Friday morning, Nelson and Ros-Lehtinen met with Batista’s family in Coral Gables to discuss the government’s efforts to solve the mysterious disappearance.

Nelson further stressed the importance of the government working to resolve this disappearance, and drew comparisons between this incident and the case of Robert Levinson — a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs who went missing in 2007 while researching a cigarette-smuggling case in Iran.

Batista is a constituent in Ros-Lehtinen’s 18th congressional district.

”This is such a sad case and that is why I have asked other members of the Florida congressional delegation to get involved,” Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.

“We need to seek answers for the family and I am pleased that my colleague, Sen. Nelson, has joined this endeavor.”

Nelson said that he spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about Batista and that the Obama administration is making it a priority.

”I personally spoke to Secretary of State Clinton about two weeks ago. I know she is using all the resources of the State Department, and next week I will be meeting with the attorney general to ask him to continue to have the FBI, and the other resources at his control, working the case,” Nelson told The Miami Herald.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Ros-Lehtinen urged Obama to seriously consider this matter because “Mr. Batista’s case tragically demonstrates the irrefutable threat that Mexico’s escalating narco-violence poses to the security of our own nation and citizens.”

ANOTHER CASE

Nelson further stressed the importance of the government working to resolve this disappearance, and drew comparisons between this incident and the case of Robert Levinson — a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs who went missing in 2007 while researching a cigarette-smuggling case in Iran.

via Politicians help family of man kidnapped in Mexico – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

(Update – RETRACTION) Unconfirmed/incomplete report of Levinson release

UPDATE, 11/27/07: we’ve determined  – much to our embarassment – that we were suckered by trackback spam into concluding this was a new report. In fact, it linked, eventually, to a May 2007 post on abcnews.com 

This is one of the more insidious permutations of spam – polluting the stream of information about critical issues. Our apologies to our readers. Eds. 

The Janine Swainston blog has a report dated November 21, 2007 (two days ago) headed

Report: Iran May Release Former FBI Agent Soon

The entire text of the blog post is:

Friends of the former FBI agent believed to be in custody in Iran, Robert Levinson, say he could be released as early as today based on what they describe as two unconfirmed reports from Tehran. “We have received a call that he is free, and we have people at airports in Frankfurt and Dubai where we have been told he could show up,” one of. . .

The “more” link leads to an ABC News post dated May 1, 2007.

There’s no direct contact information on this blog – but we’re trying to run down this report – which, if true, would be the best Thanksgiving ever for a bunch of my favorite people – not least Bobby Levinson. (If this post finds its way to Mr. Levinson – he should be reminded that he owes me at least one dinner).