- Iran’s envoy helped boost Islamabad-Tehran ties.
- The FBI lists the ambassador to Levinson’s disappearance.
- US searches for information and offers up to $ 25 million.
Islamabad: Pakistan has defended the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, says Amiri Moghadam, after its inclusion in the “most wanted” list of the Federal Office of Research of the United States on its alleged participation in the 2007 disappearance of the former FBI agent Robert Levinson.
The spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Shafqat Ali Khan, in a statement on Wednesday, said that Ambassador Moghadam is seen with respect in Pakistan and is a duly accredited envoy of a neighboring country.
The statement also recognized the important role of the envoy in promoting Bilateral Relations of Pakistan-Iran, reaffirming Islamabad’s commitment to maintain friendly ties with Tehran.
“With regard to Pakistan, Iran’s ambassador is widely respected for his role in promoting Pakistan-Iran’s relations,” added FO spokesman. “He is entitled to all privileges, immunity and respect due to an ambassador, who also of a friendly neighboring country.”
The FBI recently placed Moghadam on his most sought after list, citing his alleged participation in the kidnapping, detention and probable death of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent that disappeared after traveling to Kish Island in Iran in 2007.
Levinson has not been seen publicly since then, and his family believes that he died in Iranian custody, based on intelligence evaluations in the United States.
According to the FBI, Moghadam, an official of the Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, was one of those appointed by the United States Department of the Treasury in March 2025 for his alleged role in the incident.
The office has offered a reward of up to $ 5 million, while the justice rewards program of the United States Department of State has announced additional $ 20 million for information that leads to the recovery of Levinson.
The FBI movement follows increased tensions after the 12-day Iran-Israel war, and in the midst of renewed diplomatic maneuvers on Iran’s nuclear program.
The United States and its European allies have established a de facto deadline of the end of August to reach a new nuclear agreement with Tehran, do not plan to trigger the “Snapback” mechanism to impose the UN sanctions again.
In reaction to the most sought after list of the FBI, the president of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jim Risch, said the FBI “is leading the way to hold Iran responsible for the kidnapping of Bob Levinson, a devout patriotic father and American.”
“We will never forget Bob and his family, and we will make those responsible for their crimes,” he said in an X publication.
The Washington movement comes after the recent 12-day Iran-Israel War that saw the United States bombard the old nuclear sites.
The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, and the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, during a telephone conversation, agreed to establish the end of August as the de facto deadline to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran.
If this deadline reaches any agreement, the three European powers plan to trigger the “Snapback” mechanism that automatically imposes all the sanctions of the UN Security Council that rose under the Iran 2015 agreement.
Meanwhile, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, said that Tehran hoped to participate in discussions with the United States, but was not in a hurry to talk to Iran, which has refused to hold nuclear conversations if they were conditioned to the country to abandon their uranium enrichment activities.
