By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday defended its Iranian ambassador, Reza Amiri Moghadam, saying he enjoys diplomatic immunity and is widely respected, after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation placed him on its most-wanted list over his alleged role in the 2007 disappearance of a retired FBI agent.
“As far as Pakistan is concerned, the ambassador of Iran is widely respected for his role in the promotion of Pakistan-Iran relations,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told reporters. “He is entitled to all the privileges, immunities and respect due to an ambassador, that too from a friendly neighbouring country.”
The FBI on Tuesday named Moghadam in connection with the abduction of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who vanished on Iran’s Kish Island on March 9, 2007. The bureau alleges Moghadam, a former official in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, supervised the operation and its cover-up.
Pakistan’s statement underscores its commitment to protecting Moghadam’s diplomatic status, sidestepping the US accusations. Under international law, accredited diplomats are generally immune from prosecution in host countries.
Levinson’s disappearance has long strained US-Iran relations. A 2013 Associated Press report revealed Levinson was on an unauthorized CIA mission when he went missing. In 2020, the US said Levinson likely died in Iranian custody, a claim Tehran denies, insisting he left Iran “long ago.”
According to the FBI, Moghadam, also known as Ahmad Amirinia, led MOIS’s operations unit at the time of Levinson’s abduction. The agency said European-based MOIS agents reported to him in Tehran.
The statement said authorities in Tehran attempted to shift blame for the FBI agent’s abduction onto a militant group operating in Pakistan’s Balochistan region.
The FBI also named two other Iranian officials, Taghi Daneshvar and Gholamhossein Mohammadnia, in the case, but Pakistan’s response focuses solely on Moghadam, its resident ambassador.
Pakistan, a key Iranian ally, has not been linked to Levinson’s disappearance, but Moghadam’s posting in Islamabad could draw the country into the diplomatic row. The Foreign Office gave no indication of further action regarding the FBI’s move.
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