News

FOUR years after a retired FBI agent vanished in Iran,
US officials have received proof he is alive, intensifying secret
negotiations to bring him home.

The US had lacked reliable information about whether Robert Levinson was
alive. He disappeared in March 2007 from the Iranian island of Kish. It
remains unclear who is holding Mr Levinson or where he is, but the
proof that he is alive is a rare, hopeful sign in a case that had
seemingly gone cold.

The State Department said on Thursday that it had indications Mr Levinson was in south-west Asia. It asked Iran for help.

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Iran has repeatedly said it has no information about Mr Levinson, but US
diplomats and investigators say they believe he was taken by Iranian
agents.

Many in the US government believed the 63-year-old with diabetes and
high blood pressure might have died. But late last year, Mr Levinson's
family received proof he was alive.

Authorities do not know why the evidence t... >>>