US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement last Thursday that did not go that far, however. She said she had received “indications” that Levinson was “being held somewhere in southwest Asia.” She did not claim to have proof he was alive; nor did she assert he was detained inside Iran.
CNN reported, however, that a US official told it the evidence Levinson was alive was “clear and convincing.” The Associated Press said US officials had told it the evidence 
Levinson was still alive was “irrefutable.” But the AP then said very mysteriously, “It remains unclear who exactly is holding Levinson or where he is.”
The new revelations and odd phraseology appear to be part of an Obama Administration initiative to give the Islamic Republic a new route by which to stop the slide into ever-deeper hostility in Iranian-American relations—if Tehran should have any interest in halting the slide. As such, Clinton’s three-sentence statement on Levinson is not so much about Levinson as it is a lifeline being thrown to the Islamic Republic and to those within the government who see Iran sinking deeper and deeper into a disastrous hole.
Levinson disappeared March 9, 2007—four years ago this week—while investigating a cigarette smuggling case in Iran.
Clinton’s statement said, “As the Government of Iran has previously offered its assistance in this matter, we respectfully request the Iranian government to undertake humanitarian efforts to safely return and reunite Bob with his family. We would appreciate the Iranian government’s efforts in this matter.” Clinton was clearly offering an opportunity to Iran to improve relations with the United States if it so chose.
The reference to “southwest Asia” in Clinton’s statement was mysterious. It hinted to most readers that Washington thinks he is being held outside Iran. But some analysts suggested the United States simply did not wish at this time to directly accuse Iran of holding Levinson and so used a vague geographic term that refers to such countries as Pakistan and Afghanistan, but which also includes Iran. Analysts told the Iran Times it was wrong to conclude Clinton was saying Levinson was not held in Iran because southwest Asia most definitely includes Iran.
For the United States to say flatly that Levinson is inside Iran would further raise the level of tension with Iran, something the United States appears not to wish to do at this junction. More importantly, the Obama Administration is dangling the Levinson case as an opportunity for the Islamic Republic to stem the slide to ever more sour relations between Iran and the United States.
By avoiding charges that Iran is holding Levinson, Washington is telling the Islamic Republic that it can free Levinson and not suffer the opprobrium of being accused of holding a man in secret for four years. Iran can free him and boast of rescuing him from captivity in another country. Significantly, that would be a way for the Islamic Republic to signal the United States that it wishes to tidy up relations with the United States, without having to tidy up its standard rhetoric.
A refusal to free Levinson, however, would signal Washington that Tehran revels in hostile relations. It would say there is little hope for resolution of frictions short of war.
The Islamic Republic replied positively to the US initiative, just as the United States had hoped. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said Iran was willing to help “on a humanitarian basis; we will continue our efforts.”
He said, “If there is reliable information, relaying it to Iranian officials can turn this into a collaborative effort.” Iran has never before proposed a “collaborative effort” with Washington. Mehman-Parast’s remarks also had the effect of kicking the ball back to Washington.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley responded that Washington was “gratified” that Iran was willing to help. The US State Department will likely now send a written diplomatic proposal to Tehran through the Swiss.
The initiative regarding Levinson has the United States stepping aside from the difficult nuclear topic. Many US officials feel the Islamic Republic has painted itself into a corner on uranium enrichment. They say the issue is not just a foreign policy topic, but a domestic political issue that is wrapped in ideology and become such a political maze that Iranian officials cannot find their way out.
The Levinson issue does not have such political complications, however. The reasoning goes that if Tehran does not really want increased confrontation, it can demonstrate that by freeing Levinson. In response, Washington is saying, it will not flay Iran for holding him four years.
Each country could thus demonstrate its good faith to the other, providing a foundation for further dealings and explorations of possible ways to extricate the two countries from the decline into the abyss that now prevails.
Iran has long denied having any knowledge of Levinson’s whereabouts. It denies ever detaining him, although an American Muslim who defected to Iran, Davud Salahuddin or David Belfield, says Iranian police entered the hotel room where he and Levinson were meeting on Kish. Belfield says he was taken away by the police and last saw Levinson in Iranian police custody in that room.
In late 2010, Levinson’s family told the AP, it received proof that Levinson was still alive. The AP said federal investigators confirmed the authenticity of the evidence.
On her website, Levinson’s wife, Christine, wrote: “It has been almost four years since I have seen my beloved husband Robert Levinson. Our family is tremendously encouraged by the news Bob is alive but remains concerned for his safety and well being. Bob suffers with diabetes requiring regular medication. Our seven children, our two grandchildren, and I await the day we will be reunited. We ask for your continued prayers and support. If you have information, we can be contacted at www.helpboblevinson.com.”
The source and nature of the evidence the family received has not been disclosed publicly by the AP, which said it was withholding the details because officials believe revealing that information might undermine efforts to free Levinson. And, if the evidence shows Levinson being held in Iran by the Iranian government, it would clearly undermine this State Department initiative to free Levinson without flaying the Islamic Republic.
Levinson retired from the FBI in 1998 and started working as a private investigator. He was investigating a cigarette smuggling case in early 2007 that took him to Iran. The island of Kish, a popular resort area, is a free trade zone—meaning foreigners, including American citizens, do not need visas to travel there.
Levinson disappeared after meeting with Salahuddin, an American fugitive who is wanted for the assassination of a former Iranian diplomat in Maryland 31 years ago.
Levinson’s signature was apparently used to check out of his hotel the day after the meeting with Salahuddin, but there is no evidence that he ever made it to the airport and he did not keep his reservation for a flight out of Iran to Dubai.
President Ahmadi-nejad has been cagey about the Levinson case. In just one interview, Ahmadi-nejad: a) stated flatly that he had no information about Levinson; b) offered to help find him; and c) accused the FBI of withholding information about why Levinson was in Iran.
To many analysts, the last comment by Ahmadi-nejad is crucial. It is suspected that Iranian officials do not believe Levinson is retired from the FBI and that he was on some kind of official espionage assignment from the US government.
The New York Times reported last week that Levinson had been hired by Global Witness, a London-based organization that investigates corporate and government corruption. Most of Levinson’s work since retiring from the FBI involved probes of product counterfeiting.
The State Department is focused on the second of Ahmadi-nejad’s comments about Levinson—his offer to help find Levinson. Clinton’s statement used that as the anchor for her appeal to Iran.
Many analysts in the US government believe Ahmadi-nejad has little interest in a hostile relationship with the United States that could descend into war. They see his flaming anti-Western rhetoric as demagoguery aimed, first, at pleasing the great unwashed who are the basis of the regime’s support, second, at attracting supporters for Iran’s ideology throughout the Islamic world, and third—perhaps—at obscuring from Iran’s hardliners his desire to smooth relations with Washington.
But others point out that Ahmadi-nejad doesn’t make major foreign policy and say his previous efforts to improve relations with Washington have been scuttled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi—and also by lack of responsiveness from Washington.
Reza Kahlili, the pseudonym of a former Iranian CIA agent currently living in the United States who published the memoir “A Time to Betray,” told the Iran Times he heard that Levinson was investigating money laundering and discovered a link between the Russian mob and the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards). Kahlili said he was told Levinson was taken to a safe house in Tehran, but that he doesn’t know what happened to him subsequently.
