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"We recently received information from U.S. officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody. We don't know when or how he died, only that it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic," they said in a statement.

"It is impossible to describe our pain," the family said.

"Bob Levinson was a truly remarkable individual - the best husband, father, brother, grandfather and friend anyone could ever ask for. He was an American hero - a true patriot, and his compassion and kindness knew no bounds," they said. "We will miss his warmth, humor, and wisdom, but most of all, we will miss the deep and unconditional love he had for each one of us. He will never be forgotten - we will make sure of it."

Levinson traveled to Kish Island, Iran, in early March 2007, according to State Department officials, and was never publicly seen or heard from again. He became the longest-held US citizen in history in 2016.

Iranian officials had long denied that Levinson was ever in the country, claiming there was no proof.

President Donald Trump personal's focus on bringing American hostages home also gave them heart, as did the administration's move later in November to offer a $25 million reward for information leading to Levinson's return. December saw the release of Princeton graduate student Xiyue Wang, which seemed to offer the family some hope as it indicated Iran was willing to release Americans.

On Wednesday, despite the family's statement, Trump said that he doesn't "accept that he's dead."

"It's not looking great, but I won't accept that he's dead," the President said during a White House briefing.

National security adviser Robert O'Brien said in a statement Wednesday evening that "Iran must provide a complete accounting of what occurred with Bob Levinson before the United States can fully accept what happened in this case."

"While the investigation is ongoing, we believe that Bob Levinson may have passed away some time ago," he said.

'The very definition of cruelty'

In their statement, the family noted that they had not received his body for a proper burial and they "don't even know when, or even if, his body would be returned to us."

"This is the very definition of cruelty," they said.

"Those who are responsible for what happened to Bob Levinson, including those in the U.S. government who for many years repeatedly left him behind, will ultimately receive justice for what they have done," they said.

The family said Wednesday that they "expect American officials, as well as officials around the world, to continue to press Iran to seek Bob's return, and to ensure those Iranian officials involved are held accountable," they said.

In their statement, the family thanked Trump "and the members of his Administration - National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, C.I.A. Director Gina Haspel, and FBI Director Christopher Wray - and their staff, who have done all they could to make our family whole again."

CNN has reached out to the State Department and the FBI for comment. The CIA had no comment.

"Our family also wishes to thank Congressman Ted Deutch, Senator Bill Nelson, Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Bob Menendez, and their staff members, who fought for Bob Levinson in every possible way," they said.

In a statement, Rubio said that "the news announced today by his family was the one none of us ever wanted to hear."

Menendez said his "heart goes out to the Levinson family tonight, who are mourning the loss of a beloved husband and father, especially his son, who works in my DC office and his daughters who are New Jersey constituents."

Both the Florida Republican and New Jersey Democrat, respectively, called for Iran to be held accountable.

Deutch said he was "devastated for the Levinson family."

"They have endured more than any family should ever have to, and it has been my great honor to fight alongside them for Bob's return. They deserved a better outcome. They deserved to be reunited with Bob," the Florida Democrat said.

'They will only know him through the stories we tell them'

The family said they would hold a memorial service when the threat posed by Covid-19 has subsided.

"Our family will spend the rest of our lives without the most amazing man we have ever known, a new reality that is inconceivable to us. His grandchildren will never meet him. They will only know him through the stories we tell them," they said.

In a December appearance in a District of Columbia courtroom to seek damages against Iran for holding Levinson, his children shared stories of a loving, dedicated and thoughtful man who took joy in his family.

Their testimony was often interrupted by tears as they struggled to speak. Siblings, husbands, wives and grandchildren Levinson had never met listened intently, some occasionally reaching for tissues or each other's hands.

"My father is the patriarch of our family, by far the greatest and most amazing man I've ever known, bar none," Levinson's youngest child, Douglas, told the courtroom.

When his mother told him his father had disappeared, Douglas remembers screaming, then the difficulty he had breathing. The next day, he went to his father's study to write him an email. "I was concerned. I was worried. I was a 13-year-old kid, I wanted him home," Douglas said.

Douglas read the email aloud in court, almost 13 years after he'd written it. "Hi, Daddy, I'm sitting in your den crying," he read, his voice cracking. "Everyone is looking for you, even the FBI. ... Daddy, I love you so much. Please, Dad, I'm so scared. ... I love you so much."

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Kylie Atwood, Zachary Cohen, Joshua Replogle and Michael Callahan contributed to this report.

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Family of American Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran, say they believe he is dead - CNN

As many as 277 evacuees were brought to Jodhpur from Iran on the early morning of March 25. (Photo:ANI)

A 41-year-old Indian, who was part of the group evacuated from Iran last week and quarantined at an army facility in Jodhpur, has tested positive for novel coronavirus. With the fresh case, the number of Covid-19 cases in Rajasthan has gone up to 60.

The person found to be coronavirus positive on Monday in Rajasthan's Jodhpur was one of the 277 evacuees who were brought to India from Iran on March 25.

One more positive case reported as a 41-year-old male resident of Ladakh, an evacuee from Iran, landed in Jodhpur on 25 March from Iran and admitted to MDH Hospital, Jodhpur, Rohit Kumar Singh, ACS, Medical and Health, Rajasthan, said on Monday.

The person was one of the evacuees kept at the Army's Military Wellness Centre in Jodhpur

The evacuees were brought to Jodhpur from Iran on the early morning of March 25. All these evacuees first tested negative for Covid-19 at Iran on March 20. On their arrival at Jodhpur airport, they were screened by medical authorities and taken to army wellness facility. All precautions had been undertaken for their reception, boarding and lodging. All evacuees are quarantined based on their age, gender and family relations, the official said.

On March 29, this person and 72-year-old mother complained of flu-like symptoms. They were sent to MDM Hospital at Jodhpur for testing. While the son has tested positive, results of the mother have confirmed that she hasnt been infected, Colonel Sombit Ghosh, PRO Defence Rajasthan said.

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Coronavirus in India: Evacuee from Iran tests positive in Jodhpur - India Today

(March 29, 2020 / JNS) The Trump administration is expected to continue allowing Russian, Chinese and European companies to keep operating at Iranian nuclear facilities, despite U.S. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, two sources familiar with the decision told JNS on Friday.

The United States has continuously extended the civilian nuclear waivers under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly know as the Iran nuclear deal, since withdrawing from in May 2018. The government has reimposed sanctions lifted under it, along with enacting new financial penalties against the regime as part of what the administration has called a maximum pressure campaign.

The deadline to extend the waivers, which has lasted 60 days, is Monday. They affect the Arak and Bushehr facilities, and the Tehran Research Reactor, where the fuel is provided by Russia, which also removes the facilitys spent fuel after its used in the reactor. The last extension was granted in January and also came with the United States sanctioning the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and its chief, Ali Akbar Salehi.

The nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers has allowed Tehran to continue its nuclear program within certain limits in exchange for lifting of economic sanctions.

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The length of the upcoming waivers is yet to be determined.

While no decision has officially been made, an internal Trump administration battle between U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has apparently been brewing over whether to renew the waivers, with the former in favor and the latter against, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

Although tension between Mnuchin and Pompeo on Iran policy is nothing new, this is the first time that Mnuchin has departed from the argument that the United States should seek to fix and not withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and now has taken the John Kerry position that we need to work with the Iranians, said a U.S. official familiar with the inner-agency process, referring to the secretary of state under President Barack Obama, who agreed to the Iran nuclear accord.

In other words, its the first time that hes given up President Trumps agenda and instead gone the John Kerry route of we just have to allow these waivers for the Iranians, said the official.

The U.S. State and Treasury Departments did not respond to a request for comment.

Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), have previously objected to waivers being extended and are likely do so were there to be another extension.

Some want the waivers ended because Iran should not have fissile-material production capabilities supported in any way by international assistance, but it is unclear how we get to the closure of those facilities in the absence of a replacement deal, Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, previously told JNS.

Robert Einhorn, who served as the U.S. Department of State special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control in the Obama administration, previously told JNS, revoking remaining waivers would not mark the complete withdrawal of the U.S. from the JCPOA. The U.S. has already completely withdrawn. It no longer considers itself bound by any of its commitments.

Sanctions against dealing with Irans nuclear organizations are U.S. sanctions. In the absence of sanctions waivers, foreign entities (e.g., Chinese, Russian, British) cooperating with Irans nuclear organizations on JCPOA-mandated projects (e.g., converting the Arak heavy water reactor) would be subject to sanctions, he continued. So revoking remaining waivers could put an end to those projects, which serve important nonproliferation goals, and drive another nail into the JCPOAs coffin.

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US expected to renew waivers allowing foreign firms to work at Iranian nuclear sites - JNS.org

Irans choice of target is significant. If it wanted to kill lots of American soldiers in Iraq there were easier bases to strike.

Ive been to al-Asad airbase its vast and its remote. Strikes there could find plenty of dead ground away from troop bunkers and would have little risk of civilian collateral killings.

Iraqi military commanders had been warned by Iran to stay away from US bases and US officials confirm their troops, too, had adequate warning to shelter from the attack.

Iran is trying to have its cake and eat it. Create the impression of a fearsome strike for domestic consumption without actually risking escalation.

So far, its working -- soon after the ballistic missiles slammed into the base, President Trump tweeted all is well, so far, so good.

There is one message for the international community and another for the Iranians who flocked to the streets for Qasem Soleimanis funeral.

Irans Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, called the strike proportional, while the theocracys Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told cheering crowds in Tehran it was a crushing blow.

Other Iranian officials speaking for international consumption say there is no need for further strikes unless the US escalates the situation. Meanwhile, some Iranian news outlets are ramping up propaganda, claiming the killing of many US troops when every reliable source says no US troops were killed.

A full US battle damage assessment has begun, and Trump is expected to speak later Wednesday, but every indication so far points toward a military off-ramp moment.

How diplomacy picks up is hard to say. In many ways the situation is back to where it was in the minutes before Soleimanis killing.

The question will be -- and this was always the gamble in killing the architect and inspiration of Irans overseas aggression -- will the ayatollahs now decide they cant get away with the attacks as they did, or do they believe their own domestic hype, and that it is for the US to back down on sanctions and pull out of the region.

Regardless of what they or the White House believe, the door to de-escalation has opened a crack -- diplomacy might just slip into the room.

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January 7 US-Iran news - CNN

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tehran,... [+] Iran. A portrait of late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini hangs on the wall.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called violent attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure in Abqaiq and Khurais an act of war, as evidence suggests that Iran is the culprit. This marks the most dangerous escalation between the U.S. and Iran since the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran. However, this confrontation has major implications for the growing U.S. China strategic rivalry.

Amidst historic U.S. Iran tensions, Beijing is doubling-down on its strategic partnership with Tehran, ignoring U.S.efforts toisolate theIslamic Republicfrom global markets.Following an August visit by Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Beijing, the two countries agreed to updatea 25-year program signed in 2016, to include an unprecedented $400 billion of investment in the Iranian economy sanctions be damned.

The capital injection, which would focus on Irans oil and gas sector, would also be distributed across the countrys transportation and manufacturing infrastructure. In return, Chinese firms will maintain the right of the first refusal to participate in any and all petrochemical projects in Iran, including the provision of technology, systems, process ingredients and personnel required to complete such projects. According to an exclusive interview with Petroleum Economist, a senior source in Irans petrochemical sector had this to say about the new agreement:

The central pillar of the new deal is that China will invest $280 billion developing Iran's oil, gas and petrochemicals sectors there will be another $120 billion investment in upgrading Iran's transport and manufacturing infrastructure, which again can be front-loaded into the first five-year period and added to in each subsequent period should both parties agree.

This comes at a time when Washington is exerting its so-called maximum pressure strategy against Iran, which aims to change its international behavior by bringing oil exports down to zero.

The Trump policy is a 180 degree U-turn form the sanctions relief granted by the previous administrations Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Obama brainchildintended to temporarily freeze the Iranian nuclear program, but ignored its regional power projection and growing missile arsenal. Under the agreement, Irans economy rebounded by over 12% compared to when sanctions were in full force. However, Iran continued to build intermediate and short-range ballistic and cruise missiles and drones, and fund proxies from Lebanon and Syria, to Iraq, to Yemen.

The Trump Administrations sanctions, however, have cut Irans economic growth down to a meager 3.7%. The countrys oil output the lifeblood of the economy -- dropped from almost 4 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2018 to barely above 2.5 mbd in March of this year, and the exports declined to a trickle.

Timeline of Iranian oil output March 2011 - March 2018 (million barrels per day)

Nowhere To Run But East

Given Irans precarious geopolitical and geo-economic position, it has little choice but to forge a closer relationship with China, despite the countrys reputation as a predatory lender. Russia, too, is a major Iranian partner, weapons and nuclear, rocket, and military technology supplier.

Like the other Eurasian economies involved in Chinas massive Belt and Road initiative (BRI), mostly imported Chinese labor will be utilized to build factories, designed and managed by large Chinese manufacturers, with identical specifications to those in China. According to the Middle East Monitor, the agreement also confers the right to delay the payment of these prices for two years in the Chinese national currency (Yuan).

This presents an extremely favorable situation for the Chinese, as Beijing earns yuan from its projects across Africa and Central Asia andthereforedoes not need to make oil trades in USD, diminishing the bite of sanctions. In return, Tehran gains an additional ally on the UN Security Council, and an economic lifeline with a secure oil and petrochemicals market. The deal facilitates Irans quest to become a regional and nuclear-armed hegemon, potentially threatening Europe and the U.S.

Debt-Diplomacy and The Changing World Oil Market

At a time when many nations are becoming more wary of Chinese investment including companies across Europe, Greenland,and the Central Asian Republics Iran is further embracing China and less savory actors like Russia, and Turkey.

Overall,this may notprove a financially sound endeavor by Beijing, as Chinese companies will come under U.S. sanctions but it may end up as a shrewd geostrategic play by both parties. Profitability certainly hasnt been Chinas main motivation in many previous investment schemes, nor is it Irans. This case is no different. It is a geopolitical anti-American axis. Chinas game here is clear: first, increase tensions between the U.S. and Iran by weakening the impact of American sanctions and increase their soft power leverage in the energy-dense Middle East. Then integrate Iran into the Belt-and-Road initiative and into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which Tehran is an observer member.

Beijings gambit to cozy up with a terrorism-sponsoring state, however, may backfire. Iranian aggression is likely to end up in Tehrans defeat. Regardless of how Saudi Arabia and the United States decide to proceed with retaliation for the Abqaiq-Khurais attacks, China may soon have a severe case of buyers remorse.

With Assistance From David Pasmanik

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China's Giant $400 Billion Iran Investment Complicates U.S ...