So, honour has been satisfied, or, at least, dishonour avoided. The British hostages are being returned without the British government either accepting the Iranian case that they had been in Iranian waters or apologising for it. But then Tehran hasn't apologised either for the seizure of the 15 sailors and marines and their use in video "confessions". If anything, it has gained the merit of magnanimity and surprising expectation by being so quick to end what could have been a long drawn-out and potentially damaging crisis.
If the writer is unclear, read on:
By moving decisively, and making the whole release into almost a party of goodwill and congratulations, Tehran has not just defused the crisis, it has also made it much more difficult to isolate and confront it over Iraq, its nuclear ambitions or whatever. It now looks as if the radicals don't have it all their own way in the country and that it can, and will, act pragmatically when it suits it.
So let's review, shall we?
--Iran ambushes British sailors in international waters and takes them captive (and even if the British were in Iranian waters, the usual response is supposed to be a polite reminder to leave).
--Iran strips the male personnel of their uniforms and dolls up the female sailor in Islamic garb.
--Iran parades them on TV making statements in favor of the Iranian regime.
--Iran declares they have the right to try these uniformed personnel for espionage.
--Iran then releases the hostages yet insists they had the right to try the hostages.
I find this amazing. Iran starts the crisis by illegally taking hostages, violating international norms of treating captives, and then ends the crisis by releasing the hostages. Yet Iran's reputation for reasonableness is enhanced? Have we forgotten that the Iranians started the whole crisis by seizing British personnel?
Oh yeah, in Lefty World, America (somehow) caused the crisis and so all the demerits of the incident accrue to us and all the credit for ending it goes first to the British for not reacting militarily and then (the Lion's share) goes to Iran for their generous ending of the crisis.
Good God, no wonder our enemies assume they will defeat us.
