By Mark Hosenball and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States offered $5 million on Monday for help in finding an American who disappeared in Iran eight years ago and appealed to Tehran to cooperate in the search for the former FBI agent, Robert Levinson. “We ask the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to work cooperatively with us on the investigation into Robert Levinson’s disappearance so we can ensure his safe return,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. The White House National Security Council said it was “committed to the safe return of Bob Levinson to his family.” Levinson disappeared from Kish Island, an Iranian resort in the Gulf, on March 9, 2007, while on a business trip as a private investigator. Levinson traveled to Kish to meet Daoud Salahuddin, an American wanted in the murder of an Iranian diplomat in a Washington suburb in 1980.

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