By Pishtaz | 2025-03-19

FBI director Kash Patel's recent pledge to "zero out" the number of US citizens held hostage overseas comes as the agency continues to seek information about the fate of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson.

Though Iranian regime officials have repeatedly denied knowledge of his whereabouts, US officials have determined that Levinson, who vanished on Iran's Kish Island on March 9, 2007, probably died in Tehran's custody.

"We won't stop until we've uncovered the truth about what happened to him and brought him home," Patel said March 9.

Levinson's story is just one tragic example of the Islamic Republic's pattern of detaining foreigners, sometimes to use as political pawns.

Levinson, who specialized in investigating organized crime during his FBI career, had been working as a contract report writer for the CIA's Illicit Finance Group when he disappeared, CNN reported.

His wife Christine Levinson met with Iranian regime officials in December 2017 but learned nothing of his whereabouts.

US fugitive Dawud Salahuddin later told the Christian Science Monitor that both he and Levinson were detained by security forces on March 9, 2007.

In April 2011, Levinson's family received photos that showed him shackled, wearing an orange jumpsuit and holding signs written in broken English.

And in December 2011 they received a "proof of life" video.

Despite these glimmers of hope, all evidence points to Levinson's detention and probable death in regime custody, the FBI said February 4.

Detention and deception

"Some hostages are arrested to obtain something in return," said Islamic Republic expert David Rigoulet-Roze.

The regime often seeks the release of Iranians convicted of terrorism, or aims to recover frozen funds held overseas, he said.

The European Parliament in January condemned the regime's practice of "hostage diplomacy," demanding immediate release and repatriation of EU citizens held without fair trials.

Levinson's case reached its grim conclusion in March 2020, when US officials determined he had probably died in Tehran's custody.

"We haven't been able to hold a funeral for my dad," Levinson's daughter Sarah Moriarty told ABC News in 2021.

"We were never given the chance to say goodbye. To touch him one more time and tell him we love him. To bury him and properly grieve -- to have real closure and finality."

In December 2020, the US Treasury sanctioned two Iranian intelligence officers identified by the FBI -- Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai -- for their role in Levinson's abduction.

The FBI continues to offer a $5 million reward for information about Levinson's case, while the US State Department's Rewards for Justice program offers an additional $20 million leading to his location, recovery and return.