That last post took way longer…

by

…than I expected. So much so that the “Is the Iranian government outright INSANE?” post is now the “I guess that it isn’t, at that.” Which is a good thing, as the optimal result here would be a Velvet Revolution leading to an essentially violence-free regime change, and UK/US rescue missions into Iranian territory (however necessary) could negatively affect that.

Here’s hoping that the Iranian government stays sane.

UPDATE: Constant Reader double-plus-ungood has alerted us to the delay in the soldiers’ release. He(?) thinks that this is due to the need to keep the hardliners in Iran’s government appeased: I would guardedly agree. We’re probably not going to get the boats back, either; not surprising, that.

21 thoughts on “That last post took way longer…”

  3. “Are we saying that the Iranians don’t have a right to do this?”
    Do they have the right to detain? Actually, yes, they do, provided that the Brits did in fact violate the borders. Do they have the right to put said Brits through a show trial in response? Not a fu*king chance in hell.

  4. Moe Actually, yes, they do, provided that the Brits did in fact violate the borders.

    A British military source acknowledged the British boats may have strayed into Iranian waters. “It was quite a confused situation. The weather was appalling and this happened in a confined stretch of water,” he said.

    Moe: Do they have the right to put said Brits through a show trial in response? Not a fu*king chance in hell.
    What show trial? You mean appearing on TV in blindfolds? (seriously, not being snarky here, I haven’t seen footage) I don’t think that violates any laws or treaties, does it? And wouldn’t Iranian law come into play here?

  5. “What show trial?”
    Earlier reports had indicated that the Iranian government had threatened to put the captured British soldiers on trial. That’s the sort of thing that starts wars, which is what sparked the “Are they insane?” comment; by the time I got around to blogging about it, said government had gotten a collective rush of oxygen to the brain and declared that the British soldiers would be released, hence the “guess not”.

  7. Oh, okay, thanks.
    Actually, just read Juan Cole’s take on this, he figures the Iranian public is pissed, and the government is doing this as a way of demonstrating a largely symbolic act of defiance at Britian (and by proxy the US, I guess). He says that he thinks the sailors will soon be released.
    And then he makes an alarming prediction that the Iranians will soon have nukes.

  8. Does anyone know what the US or British response would be in reverse? If Iranian boats “wandered” into our waters?

  9. There appears to have been a bit of a struggle between elements within Iran over this matter – the Revolutionary Guard and the more theocratic element, versus the relatively reformist Government of President Mohammad Khatami. There’s still apparently concessions Khatami may have to make to the more anti-Western elements, such as an official apology from the British Government.
    Oh well. Better it ends like this. My friends in the Ministry tell me we were about to dispatch Bond.

  10. They’ve been released, supposedly, although sans their boats. Well, it was unlikely that we would’ve gotten the equipment back anyway, and Lord knows we played the same game often enough over the years.
    As to what we would’ve done if the situation was reversed… given that we aren’t at war with Iran and that the UK has diplomatic relations with that country, I’m guessing that it wouldn’t have gone as far as detention. A simple ‘escorting’ would probably have sufficed. This week’s not the week to start that particular war (may it, of course, prove unneccessary to ever start).

  11. They’ve been released, supposedly, although sans their boats.
    Now they’re reportedly not being released until at least Thursday. Looks like the Iranian gov’t is squeezing all the publicity out of it they can in order to appease the hardliners.

  13. Does anyone know what the US or British response would be in reverse? If Iranian boats “wandered” into our waters?
    Very similar, I suspect (except the USG appears to prefer hoods to blindfolds).

  14. Does anyone know what the US or British response would be in reverse? If Iranian boats “wandered” into our waters?
    I asked the same thing about the whole Chinese spy-plane incident back whenever that was: what would we be doing if the Chinese had been spying on us &c. I’ve never received so many gormless blank-eyed stares in my life; I’d be shocked if I weren’t so bloody used to it by now.

  19. I recently read a biography of Lord Cochrane, the greatest naval commander in history. He had to give up his ship to the French once, and he didn’t scuttle it.
    He did jettison the cannons though.

  20. I recently read a biography of Lord Cochrane, the greatest naval commander in history. He had to give up his ship to the French once, and he didn’t scuttle it.
    He did jettison the cannons though.

Comments are closed.