Juan Cole: Iran's new hostage crisis

[RedEarth]

Iran's new hostage crisis
By seizing 15 British sailors, the embattled Iranians aim to rally anti-Western sentiment and force the Brits from Iraq.
By Juan Cole

Apr. 03, 2007 | The lofty invocations of international law by the British and Iranian governments disguise the banal origins of their current dispute: used cars. The British naval personnel had boarded an Indian vessel they thought was smuggling old automobiles into Iraq. Tehran maintains that they then veered into Iranian waters.

It is not really about used cars, of course, but rather an unpopular and isolated Iranian government attempting to rally support and strengthen itself. The capture by Iranian Revolutionary Guards of 15 British sailors and marines on March 23 has set off a diplomatic crisis and mobilized the public in both Britain and Iran. The ever combative Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Saturday "that instead of apologizing to the Iranian nation, the British were acting as if Iran owed them something." A member of the Parliament in Tehran called for the British personnel to be tried for espionage, while the Iranian Embassy in Thailand asked other nations to denounce what it called a British trespass into its sovereign territory. On Sunday, a small crowd of some 200 demonstrators threw stones and firecrackers at the British Embassy in Tehran. It was not much of a demonstration, and Iranian police kept them in check when they tried to storm onto the embassy grounds.

British public opinion was inflamed on Sunday after Iranian television showed the captured seamen admitting that they had strayed into Iranian waters at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which forms the disputed border between Iran and Iraq. Iran seemed to be vying with 1950s North Korea for the title of creepiest brain-washer. Former 1st Sea Lord Adm. Sir Alan West decried the performance of the sailors as a product of coercion and sniffed that it "does not reflect the price of fish."

Although Britain insists that a global positioning signal demonstrates that the British boat was in Iraqi waters, in fact the maritime border between Iraq and Iran has never been agreed upon by the two neighbors. Military action seems an unlikely way to secure the release of the soldiers, and Tony Blair's government has given up threats of moving into a "different phase" and has focused on intensive negotiations. "We are anxious that this matter be resolved as quickly as possible and that it be resolved by diplomatic means, and we are bending every single effort to that," British Secretary of Defense Des Browne said on Sunday. "We are in direct bilateral communication with the Iranians."

Britain, an advanced technological society, has the world's second-most-powerful military, and a GNP per capita of $33,000. Iran is still a developing country, with a per capita income of only $2,800, despite its oil wealth. Why would the Iranian leadership risk such a confrontation over a minor issue? Even if the British boat had strayed into Iranian waters, it could not have been by much, and nations routinely grant such passage to nonbelligerent vessels. The conflict is not about incursions into sovereign territory any more than it is about used-car smuggling.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/04/03/iran/print.html

[ShortnFiery]

1. The Iranians also know that even Dimson (let's pray) is not stupid enough to bomb Iran

while the UK hostages are being held captive. NO! It's not right but they now serve as an Insurance Policy, especially since it's been announced that the 5th Carrier (Nimitz) is on it's way to The Persian Gulf.

NO! I'm not siding with the Iranians, but consider what you would do if you were them?

IMO, until we pull all but two carrier groups out of the Persian Gulf Area, a "mini-nuke bombing" of all of Iran's suspected Nuclear sites is a *real possibility.*

I do hope and pray that the hostages are being treated humanely and that they are returned to their families in the near future. However, I'm only being OBJECTIVE by suggesting that WE SHOULD address the possible reasons WHY they are continuing to be held captive. Did I mention that we have our FIFTH carrier group heading their way!?! Dimson wants more than ever to mini-nuke the shit out of Iran within the next TWO WEEKS, no doubt. :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: