Judge Orders Iran to Cough Up Over Missing American
A United States court has ordered the Iranian regime to fork over nearly $1.5 billion in damages to the family of a former FBI agent who disappeared over 13 years ago during a visit to the Islamic Republic. The staggering amount consists of both compensatory and punitive damages awarded by the district judge. The family of the agent, Robert Levinson, welcomed the ruling as a “first step in the pursuit of justice” and expressed hope it would “serve as a warning against further hostage-taking by Iran.” While Iran has maintained that Levinson exited the country safely many years ago, US officials believe the former agent died in Iranian custody. He went off the radar shortly after traveling from Dubai to an Iran-controlled island in the Persian Gulf in March 2007. There he met with Daoud Salahuddin, an American Islamic extremist who fled to Iran while facing charges in the US for the murder of an Iranian Embassy official in Washington.