Ahmadinejad’s ‘Gift’ to Britain

What happened

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week 'œpardoned' 15 British sailors and marines and announced their release, two weeks after they were captured. 'œIt is a gift from our people,' he said. Ahmadinejad said the British government sent a letter to his government promising not to trespass in Iranian waters, but added, 'œOf course, this decision was not related to that letter. When we think of Islamic kindness, we are not expecting anything in return.'

At the press conference, shown on Iranian TV, Ahmadinejad shook the hands of the captured sailors. 'œWe are grateful for your forgiveness,' one of the sailors said. The Iranian leader then praised and decorated the members of the Revolutionary Guards who had captured them in the Persian Gulf, in waters between Iran and Iraq. Iran claimed that the sailors had been in its waters; the British produced GPS data disputing that.

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Earlier this week, Iraqi authorities released an Iranian diplomat who had been kidnapped in Iraq last month, prompting speculation that the Iranians had used the captured British sailors as bargaining chips. Iran's official news agency also reported that Iranian personnel would be allowed to meet with five Iranians taken by U.S. forces in Iraq late last year. Still, British, American, and Iranian officials all said there had been no 'œhostage swap.'

What the editorials said

Score one for Iran, said Canada's Edmonton Journal. 'œDespite the denials,' the release of the Iranian diplomat held in Iraq was almost certainly a 'œpayoff' to Iran. Grabbing hostages gets the Iranians results; that's why they keep doing it. Britain has learned the hard way that 'œwhile taking military action may have catastrophic disadvantages, so does being unable or unwilling to act.'

Our vigorous and 'œlegal' defense of our territory was a message to the West, said Iran's Keyhan. The U.N. Security Council has been attempting to force us into abandoning our rightful pursuit of nuclear technology. While the arrest of the British sailors who illegally entered our waters was not directly related to that issue, it did, at least, 'œshow Iran's strategy when facing bullying aggressors.' The world now knows that 'œwe will never let anyone violate Iran's national territory.'

What the columnists said

For all its bluster, Iran's leadership is deeply divided, said Juan Cole in Salon.com. The capture of the sailors was apparently a solo effort by the Revolutionary Guards, the hard-line militia that runs the country's nuclear program and has been explicitly targeted by U.N. sanctions. The Guards hoped to head off any possibility of negotiation with the West. Initially, Iran's Foreign Ministry seemed taken aback by the Guards' move. But then the 'œdeeply unpopular' regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took advantage of the supposed British trespass to 'œrally the public around the flag.'

'œWhatever the internal politics,' said Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek, 'œIran appears to have miscalculated.' The abduction of British sailors made it appear 'œa reckless and untrustworthy state,' not a 'œbrilliant and all-powerful behemoth.' The whole episode proved that 'œpressure works, as long as you can help Tehran chart a way out.' In contending with Iran's nuclear ambitions, Western nations should work together and make small concessions. Iran 'œis manageable through diplomacy and not force.'

That wasn't diplomacy, it was surrender, said Ralph Peters in the New York Post. The captured Royal Marines spent just a few days in Iranian custody before they meekly confessed'”on video, no less'”to bogus crimes, giving the Iranians a huge propaganda victory. U.S. Marines would never have behaved in 'œsuch a shabby, cowardly fashion.' For starters, they would have fought their attackers. If captured, they certainly would've refused to collaborate with the enemy. 'œIn heaven, Winston Churchill's puking up premium scotch.'

What next?

The 'œonly realistic course,' said Max Hastings in The New York Times, is to 'œsustain the policy of engagement' with Iran. Pretty much every Western intelligence service thinks that Iran will build a nuclear weapon within the next few years'”and that there is no 'œcredible military means' of stopping it. The consequences of bombing Iran could be much worse than living with a nuclear Iran. 'œWe must keep talking to the Iranians, offering carrots even when these are contemptuously tossed into the gutter, because there is no credible alternative.'