Iran cooperating at locating missing American, US says

China News.Net
Thursday 5th April, 2007 (IANS)

Iran has requested more information about an American citizen who has gone missing in the country, in a sign Tehran is cooperating in trying to locate the man who disappeared weeks ago, the US State Department said.

'We take this request for information on the Iranians' part as actually an attempt to try to clarify who this person is, where he came in, in order to help determine where he is and what his current situation is right now,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The man, identified by the Washington Post as Robert A Levinson, went missing in Iran's Kish Island more than three weeks ago and the US government has asked the Iranian to help determine his whereabouts.

Levinson retired from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations 10 years ago and previously worked for the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The US has been communicating with the Iranians through the Swiss embassy in Iran, which has represented Washington there since US-Iranian diplomatic relations were severed in 1980.

McCormack said the Iranian government wanted more information about when, where and how he arrived in Iran.

'We gave them some basic biographical information and they asked, in return, for this additional information, which we think is a reasonable and legitimate request,' McCormack said.

Meanwhile, Levinson's family issued a statement expressing concerns about his status and urged for his safe return home as soon as possible.

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