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FBI Releases Posters Seeking More Information on Iranian Intel Officers Tied to Robert Levinson Abduction
Christine Levinson (R), wife of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, watches as her son, Daniel Levinson, displays a web print of his father’s picture to journalists, while attending a news conference, at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 22, 2007. Photo: Reuters / Morteza Nikoubazl.
The Washington field office of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday released posters seeking information about two senior Iranian intelligence officers allegedly involved in the disappearance of retired FBI Special Agent Robert Levinson.
The two men — Mohammed Baseri and Ahmad Khazai — have been accused of authorizing the 2007 abduction of Levinson
“The FBI remains steadfast in our commitment to return Bob to his family,” Sanjay Virmani, special agent of the FBI Washington field office’s Counterterrorism Division, said in a statement. “Our extensive investigation continues to develop new leads and intelligence, and we will pursue all options to hold every Iranian official involved in his abduction accountable.”
Levinson was working as a private investigator in 2007 when he vanished after traveling to Iran’s Kish Island. He was reportedly involved in an unauthorized CIA mission at the time. The US has maintained that he was kidnapped and held wrongfully by the Iranian government. Levinson was thought to be alive for several years. In 2020, however, US officials said that intelligence suggested he may have been dead for “some time.”
At the time of Levinson’s kidnapping, both Baseri and Khazai were operating as members of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), according to US authorities.
“For nearly 18 years, the Iranian government has denied knowledge of Bob’s whereabouts despite senior intelligence officials authorizing Bob’s abduction and detention and launching a disinformation campaign to deflect blame from the Iranian regime,” the FBI said in its statement.
FBI renewing effort to find retired special agent abducted in Iran almost 18 years ago
The Washington Field Office is seeking 2 Iranian intelligence officers – Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai – involved in the kidnapping, detention and probable death of Bob Levinson pic.twitter.com/kH36EtgIEZ
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 4, 2025
In December 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Baseri and Khazai for their role in Levinson’s abduction.
According to the designation Baseri is a senior MOIS official who has participated in critical investigations regarding Iranian national security concerns. Baseri also conducts counterespionage operations both inside and outside Iran, the Treasury Department said, and has collaborated directly with foreign intelligence services to undermine US interests.
Meanwhile, Khazai has overseen MOIS trips to foreign nations to evaluate the security situation, according to the Treasury Department’s designation.
Although Iran has previously denied any knowledge of Levinson’s whereabouts and involvement in his abduction, it is widely believed that the Iranian government held Levinson captive to be used as leverage in negotiations with the United States.
In March 2024, former FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a statement honoring Levinson’s service.
“It has been 17 years since Bob disappeared in Iranian territory, but no matter how much time has passed, the FBI and our partners will pursue every lead to uncover what happened to Bob and return him to his family,” Wray said. “I’m grateful that our nation continues to remember Bob, with March 9 commemorating National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day — a day for our entire nation to pause and remember Bob and all Americans unjustly held abroad.”
Iran has an extensive history of attempting to kidnap Americans. In 2021, for example, the US Justice Department announced charges against Iranian intelligence agents for plotting to kidnap an American citizen and Iranian dissident, journalist Masih Alinejad, in the US and take her by boat to Venezuela before forcibly returning her to Iran, where she was born.
The FBI has continued to offer a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Levinson’s location, recovery, and return.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
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