Reports: American who went missing in Iran worked for CIA

A former FBI agent who went missing in Iran was working for the CIA there, not conducting private business as officials have previously claimed, The Associated Press and the Washington Post reported on Thursday.Both the State Department and Bob Levinson's family have long denied he was working for the U.S. government when he disappeared on a trip to Iran in 2007.But Thursday's reports from the Washington Post and the AP claim that Levinson had been on a CIA mission to dig up information.A source who's involved in the matter told CNN that there's proof that Levinson worked for the CIA undercover and under contract while also working as aprivate investigator.The AP says it decided to move forward with publishing the sensitive story after holding off several times."The AP first confirmed Levinson's CIA ties in 2010 andcontinued reporting to uncover more details. It agreed three times to delay publishing the story because the U.S. government said it was pursuing promising leads to get him home," the news agency said in its report."The AP is reporting the story now because, nearly seven years after his disappearance, those efforts haverepeatedly come up empty. The government has not received any sign of life in nearly three years. Top U.S. officials, meanwhile, say his captors almost certainly already know about his CIA association."CNN's source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the investigation, said that after six and half years in captivity and interrogations, it's more than likely that Levinson's captors know he was working undercover."The family is aware of the risk created by this story and are praying for his safety, as they have for six years," a Levinson family spokesman told CNN Thursday night. "All they want is to bring Bob home."In a written statement, the family criticized the U.S. government's response to the situation."Bob is a courageous man who has dedicated himself, including risking his own life, in service to the U.S. government. But the U.S. government has failed to make saving this good man's life the priority it should be. There are those in the U.S. government who have done their duty in their efforts to find Bob, but there arethose who have not," the statement said. "It is time for the U.S. government to step up and take care of one of its own. After nearly 7 years, our family should not be struggling to get through each day without this wonderful, caring, man that we love so much."