A senior US senator suggested today that the CIA has not been forthcoming with Congress on details about an American who disappeared while on a secret intelligence mission to Iran.
Iran's foreign minister asserted that Robert Levinson is "not incarcerated by the government and I believe the government runs, pretty much, good control of the country."
An Associated Press investigation published this past week found that Levinson was working for the CIA investigating the Iranian government. The US long has publicly described Levinson as a private citizen who traveled to an Iranian island on private business.
Republican Sen John McCain told CNN's "State of the Union" that "the CIA did not tell the truth to the Congress" about Levinson.
McCain said he is confident the US is doing all it can to learn what has happened to Levinson. But he said he is disturbed the Obama administration has not been more forthcoming with information about him.
He said he doesn't "think there's any doubt" about whether Iran knows Levinson's fate.
But Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, asked on CBS television's "Face the Nation" where Levinson is, replied: "I have no idea."
"If we can trace him and find him, we will certainly discuss" returning him to the United States, he added, though he made clear that "we have no traces of him in Iran."
Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed a suggestion by Levinson's family that the US government was not doing enough to find out what happened to Levinson.
"There hasn't been progress in the sense that we don't have him back. But to suggest that we have abandoned him or anybody has abandoned him is simply incorrect ... And not helpful," he told ABC television's "This Week.
