Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he has pardoned the 15 British sailors and marines detained last month and will set them free. It was just a matter of time before this happened. The big question is was the capture just a few over zealous Iranian sailors, or was it a high level decision.
I tend to think that it was a little of both. I can't believe that the Iranian government would purposely provoke this type of diplomatic crisis. They know that they would have little to gain on the world stage. I think that the decision to hold the British sailors was more of a face saving / PR idea with the intent to come across as victims of western aggression. To that extent, at least in the eyes of many in the Arab world I think that it worked. There is no question that the "confessions" of the 15 detainees was coerced, but in the eyes of Joe Arab it probably seemed equal to what Joe America would think if we saw a Guantanamo detainee confessing. Unfortunately our President played along with this by opening his mouth when he shouldn't have.
Looking back this situation could have ended off a lot worse than it did, but even still it is yet another example of the dangerous cat and mouse game that the US and Britain are playing with Iran. In the war of Arabic public relations we always stand to lose.
I tend to think that it was a little of both. I can't believe that the Iranian government would purposely provoke this type of diplomatic crisis. They know that they would have little to gain on the world stage. I think that the decision to hold the British sailors was more of a face saving / PR idea with the intent to come across as victims of western aggression. To that extent, at least in the eyes of many in the Arab world I think that it worked. There is no question that the "confessions" of the 15 detainees was coerced, but in the eyes of Joe Arab it probably seemed equal to what Joe America would think if we saw a Guantanamo detainee confessing. Unfortunately our President played along with this by opening his mouth when he shouldn't have.
Looking back this situation could have ended off a lot worse than it did, but even still it is yet another example of the dangerous cat and mouse game that the US and Britain are playing with Iran. In the war of Arabic public relations we always stand to lose.
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