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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan stressed on Wednesday that Iran’s envoy in Islamabad, Reza Amiri Moghadam, was “widely respected”, after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) added him to its ‘Most Wanted’ list, Dawn.com reported.
“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 told Dawn.com when asked to comment on the matter.
“He is entitled to all the privileges, immunities and respect due to an ambassador, that too from a friendly neighbouring country,” Shafqat highlighted.
The listing was made over the ambassador’s alleged role in the 2007 disappearance and suspected abduction of retired FBI agent Robert A. ‘Bob’ Levinson, who had arrived on Kish Island on March 8, 2007 and went missing the following day.
FBI claims Moghadam is wanted in connection with retired agent’s disappearance
The FBI’s move comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran. Washington has often blamed Teheran and its leadership of various wrongdoings without provinding much in the way of evidence.
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 also received a $2.5 million annuity from the CIA to stop a lawsuit revealing details of his work.
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 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. 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.
However, according to the Iranian foreign ministry’s website, Moghadam has worked as deputy of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council in foreign and international policy affairs.
The US, which had been in talks with Tehran since April 12 for a nuclear deal struck three Iranian nuclear sites. The strikes came after warnings by Trump to attack Iran if it did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear programme. A US intelligence assessment had even found that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon programme and was “years away from producing one” before the strikes.
In the wake of the FBI’s move, Iran denounced recent arrests of more than 100 Iranian nationals residing in the US during anti-immigration raids, IRNA 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” 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.
In March 2025, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Moghadam and several others in connection with the case.
Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2025
