Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Laura Rozen reports on Politico.com:
In what was being reported as a potentially significant shift, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Iranian State Television today that Iran is ready to send its uranium abroad.
“We have no problem sending our enriched uranium abroad,” Ahmadinejad told state television, according to Reuters.
“We say: we will give you our 3.5 percent enriched uranium and will get the fuel. It may take 4 to 5 months until we get the fuel,” he said. “If we send our enriched uranium abroad and then they do not give us the 20 percent enriched fuel for our reactor, we are capable of producing it inside Iran.”
The U.S. reacted cautiously to the interview, saying it was willing to listen if Iran has genuinely changed its position on the fuel swap deal, while indicating it was continuing preparations with key allies on sanctions for further pressuring Iran. Iran has previously publicly said it was willing to send its low enriched uranium abroad, but it had balked at sending it out all in one batch, as a proposal worked out by the UN atomic energy agency last fall had stipulated. U.S. officials said it remained to be seen if Iran had changed its position on that.
Tag Archives: Levinson
UPI Reports Levinson family in Iran
According to United Press International:
Christine Levinson (L), wife of an ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson who disappeared in Iran in March 2007, her son Daniel (C), and her sister Susan are seen after arriving at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, Iran on December 18, 2007. Robert Levinson went missing while on a business trip to Iran’s southern island of Kish and the Iranian government claims they have no information on his whereabouts.
Wife of missing ex-FBI agent arrives in Iran
UPI photo dated December 18th, 2009:
Photo by United Press International dated 18 December 2009
Marking 1,000th day of disappearance, White House and Sec'ty Clinton repeat demand for information on Levinson whereabouts
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.
Christine Levinson on Greta van Susteren
NB:
For more information – see HelpBobLevinson.com
Thanks to Greta Van Susteren, her producers and Fox News – for keeping the case of Bob Levinson in the public forum. From Missing Former FBI Agent’s Wife Seeks Answers From Ahmadinejad, an interview conducted on 22 September on the Fox show “On the Record.” This is from a draft transcript.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: A former FBI agent travels to Iran and now he is missing. His wife is in New York tonight and she wants a face-to-face meeting with the Iranian president.
This is a case we have followed closely here at “On the Record.” Here is what weigh know. Robert Levinson vanished in March of ’07 during a trip to the Iranian island of Kish. Since then there has been no sign of him. Levinson is simply gone.
Is he being held prisoner in Iran? The missing man’s wife Christine Levinson wants answers. Christine joins us live. Good evening, Christine, and I take it there is no information update since the last time you and I spoke, right?
CHRISTINE LEVINSON, WIFE OF MISSING BOB LEVINSON: No, there isn’t. Thank you for having me on tonight.
VAN SUSTEREN: Christine, I know you want to talk to the president of Iran. Has there been any indication that he is willing to do that since he is now in the United States? I know you have traveled as well to Iran, but is there any indication that he will talk to you within the next 48 hours?
LEVINSON: I have no information that he will talk to me. I am hoping that that will happen. This is the third year in a row that I have come here to New York in hopes of meeting with him.
VAN SUSTEREN:
All right. He is on American soil, but, of course, he is there as part of the U.N., so he is protected by that fact.
But has the United States government said to you, Christine, your husband is an American. He is a former FBI agent as well. We really want to help you out. As long as he is in New York, we are going to ask him — we are going to try to help you out getting to this president to help you get answers.
LEVINSON: I hope so. I have not received any information that a meeting will take place. But I’m hopeful that at any given time anyone who can will bring up my husband’s case.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you feel — and I suspect this just from watching from afar, that basically you just got the giant runaround.
LEVINSON: A runaround — I don’t know. Right now I just don’t have any information about whether this meeting is going to happen. I’m still hopeful, and I have been promised that if it will happen they will let me know.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you believe that someone in authority in Iran knows where your husband is or what’s happened to him?
LEVINSON: I believe someone in Iran knows what happened to him. Who that is, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about where he is today. I know no more than I did when he disappeared on March 9, 2007. And I’m hoping that someone hearing this story tonight will be able to help me find him and bring him home.
VAN SUSTEREN: I take it all you want is information about your husband. You don’t want to cause any problems. You don’t want any trouble between the countries. You just want to know where your husband is, right?
LEVINSON: Right. Bob and I have been married 35 years. I’m just a housewife looking for my husband so that he can come home and bounce his grandchildren on his knee.
VAN SUSTEREN: So you would be delighted if anyone just sort of slipped you some information, you know, and you go quietly off in pursuit of the information to see whether he is still living or whether he might be in trouble, in jeopardy, or something might have happened to him?
LEVINSON: Yes, anything. I would just like information about my husband. And anyone who needs to can get in touch with me on our Web site.
VAN SUSTEREN: What’s the Web site?
LEVINSON: www.helpboblevinson.com.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. When were you last in Iran?
LEVINSON: I was in Iran in December 2007. And at that time they promised that they would give me a report on what they had found when they investigated the case. And I have not heard anything.
I hired an Iranian lawyer while I was over there, Mr. Agazi (ph), and he has tried through the legal system to try to get information and has not.
VAN SUSTEREN: It is deeply distressing, Christine, because we have followed this story and others have as well, because, you know, to the rest of us, you know, sort of watching from the side, all it is a family who just wants information about a loved one.
And why you can’t have it — I don’t know if you are caught up in the two countries or whatever it is, but it is deeply disturbing. I hope this time Christine something good happens for you. Good luck.
LEVINSON: Thank you, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Thank you.
Disclosure: Bob Levinson is my dear friend and former colleague. We would think the matter newsworthy in any case, but make no bones about our biases in the case: we want Levinson returned immediately, and are skeptical about the Iranian government’s protestations of ignorance in the matter.
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
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).