- He is entitled to all the privileges, immunities and respect due to being an ambassador, that too, from a friendly neighboring country: FO spokesperson
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday stressed that Iran’s Ambassador to the country, Reza Amiri Moghadam, was “widely respected” after the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) added him to its Most Wanted list for his alleged role in the 2007 disappearance and suspected abduction of retired FBI agent Robert A. “Bob” Levinson.
“As far as Pakistan is concerned, the ambassador of Iran is widely respected for his role in the promotion of Pakistan-Iran relations,” FO spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan stated while responding to media queries.
“He is entitled to all the privileges, immunities and respect due to [being an] ambassador, and that too, from a friendly neighbouring country,” Shafqat highlighted.
On Tuesday evening, the FBI’s Washington Field Office released ‘seeking information’ posters of three senior Iranian intelligence officials, whom it blamed for playing key roles in Levinson’s disappearance and in efforts to conceal Tehran’s alleged involvement.
While Pakistani authorities have not been linked to the incident, the case now has a direct connection to Islamabad through Moghadam’s diplomatic posting.
The FBI statement said Moghadam had previously headed the operations unit of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), adding that he reportedly oversaw agents operating across Europe during that time.
Levinson arrived on Iran’s Kish Island on March 8, 2007 and went missing the following day.
Notably, a 2013 Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed that Levinson had been sent on a spy mission by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analysts who had no authority to run such an operation. Levinson’s family had received a $2.5 million annuity from the CIA to stop a lawsuit revealing details of his work, AP reported.
In 2020, after the US concluded that Levinson had passed away “some time ago,” Iran said he had left the country “long ago” and that Tehran had no knowledge of his whereabouts, rejecting claims by his family of him dying in Iranian custody.
On the other hand, the Iranian foreign ministry’s website said, “Moghadam has worked as deputy of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council in foreign and international policy affairs.”
Per the FBI, Moghadam was “suspected of supervising the operation that led to Levinson’s reported abduction and later taking part in the cover-up”.
The FBI’s move comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s parliament said the country should not resume nuclear negotiations with the US until preconditions are met, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media.
The US periodically sanctions Iran and companies involved in trading Iranian oil, with the latest such move made on July 9.
In March, Iran’s foreign ministry condemned US sanctions that targeted its Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad, several oil tankers, and commercial entities, Iran International reported.
Two other Iran officials added to FBI’s list
In a statement, the FBI said the posters were released as part of an ongoing investigation into Iranian officials “who allegedly played roles in Bob’s abduction and Iran’s attempt to obfuscate its responsibility”.
The two other officials named were Taghi Daneshvar and Gholamhossein Mohammadnia.
The FBI claimed that Daneshvar, who it said had the alias Sayyed Taghi Ghaemi, was a senior MOIS counter-espionage officer who reportedly supervised Mohammad Baseri—another person in the bureau’s most wanted list—around the time Levinson disappeared.
Mohammadnia, the FBI said, was a senior MOIS deputy who served as Iran’s ambassador to Albania in 2016. He was expelled from Albania in December 2018 for allegedly “damaging its national security”—a ”move hailed by the US. The FBI claims he led efforts to shift blame for Levinson’s disappearance to a terrorist group in Balochistan.
“These three intelligence officers were among those who allegedly facilitated Bob’s 2007 abduction and the subsequent cover-up by the Iranian government,” said Steven Jensen, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
“Bob likely later perished in captivity far away from his family, friends, and colleagues.”
In March 2025, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Moghadam and several others in connection with the case.
Images and a video showing Levinson in captivity surfaced in 2010 and 2011, but there has been no confirmed sighting of him since.
The FBI maintains that its investigation remains active as it seeks to identify further Iranian officials allegedly involved in the abduction.
