This is a story about about three people who grew up on the East Coast. It is a true story. Bob and Dave are from Long Island. Mary is from Philly. I don't know if they ever met in their youth. They are all in Iran now. Bob is probably dead.
Bob and his boss who sent him on his last trip to Iran were both specialists in Russian Organized Crime, not Iranian issues. Bob was sent to Iran to meet Dave. Dave reportedly met with Bob before Bob disappeared. That was in 2007.
Dave has been described as being "close" with Mary.
https://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/just-another-american-hit-man-actor-and-journalist-living-in-iran/?hpMary (also known as Screaming Mary) was the spokeswoman of the “students” who took hostages and occupied the US Embassy in 1979. She has been a Professor and taught classes in cytokines, viral immunology, and HIV vaccines. In 2008 she published a scientific paper on cytokines that was 85% plagiarized from other sources. She recently contracted COVID-19 and has recovered. She currently is a Vice President of Iran.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masoumeh_EbtekarBob was Robert Levinson. He served our country as a DEA and FBI agent. He retired from the FBI in 1998 and became a CIA contractor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Robert_LevinsonDave is a fugitive for the 1980 murder-for-hire in Bethesda, Maryland of an Iranian diplomat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawud_SalahuddinI'm not aware of any direct connection between Bob and Mary, other than Dave.
The story is incomplete, with many unknowns.
The timing of Bob's appearance in the current news is interesting. WHY NOW?