The family of a man who went missing in Iran 10 years ago is calling on President Donald Trump to provide answers, The New York Times reports.
Robert A. Levinson, private investigator, part-time CIA consultant and former FBI agent, went to Iran in March 2007 on a secret, unauthorized attempt to meet a possible informant on an island of the Iranian coast. He disappeared, only to reappear in a hostage video in 2010 sent to his relatives, and later in a series of photographs in 2013.
"If I win the presidency, I guarantee you that those four prisoners are back in our country before I ever take office," Trump said at a Capitol Hill rally in 2015. "I guarantee that."
Trump was referring to Levinson, Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati and Jason Rezaian. All but Levinson were released last year. At the time, then-Secretary of State John Kerry said that Levinson's return was one of President Barack Obama's priorities in negotiating with Iran.
"As the president has said, and as I have told the Levinson family when I have met with them, we will never forget Bob, and we will not rest until the Levinson family is whole again," Kerry said in a statement, according to The Times of Israel.
"The U.S. government in its entirety will continue all efforts to locate Bob and bring him home. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has committed to cooperating with the United States to determine the whereabouts of Mr. Levinson, and we are holding Iran to its promise."
Former presidential envoy for hostage affairs James O'Brien said Obama administration officials "raised his case at every opportunity with the Iranians and tried everything we could think of to bring him home."
One of Levinson's daughters, Sarah Moriarty, isn't satisfied with the previous administration's efforts, and hopes Trump will have more success by making Levinson's release a top priority in dealing with Iran.
"They didn't get him home," she said of the Obama administration's efforts. "They failed."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.