Two U.S. media outlets are reporting that an American man who mysteriously disappeared nearly seven years ago in Iran was conducting a rogue operation for the CIA.
The Associated Press and Washington Post say Robert Levinson was gathering intelligence for a group of CIA analysts who did not have authority to run overseas operations.
The ex-FBI agent disappeared in March 2007 while visiting the Iranian island of Kish, on what his family and U.S. government officials have described as a private business trip.
But the reports Thursday said Levinson was actually meeting with Dawud Salahuddin, who is wanted for the murder of an Iranian diplomat in the U.S. in 1980 and has close ties to Iranian leaders.
The reports say Levinson's lawyers discovered emails in which a CIA analyst assured Levinson before the trip that he would be reimbursed for his expenses.