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Don't Let Iran Get Away with Hostage-Taking

(Bloomberg) Xiyue Wang - One year ago, I was released from Iran as an American hostage in a prisoner swap. After a 40-month ordeal in the notorious Evin Prison, I left the country with the hard-learned knowledge that the Iranian regime is obdurately hostile toward the West, especially the U.S. At least 11 foreign nationals are still held in Iran. Why does the Iranian regime keep taking foreigners hostage as political leverage? The simple answer is that this tactic always works. Starting from the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in 1979, the regime has inevitably got something in return for releasing captive foreigners, be it some form of financial gain, repatriation of Iranian prisoners detained overseas or other political concessions from foreign governments. Inevitably, these swaps have been described as "diplomacy." But when the old hostages are sent home, the regime simply arrests new ones to replenish its stock of political pawns. The regime's hostage-taking is a manifestation of its anti-diplomacy orientation. The Islamic Republic, from its formation in 1979, has consistently defied international norms. This is because of its revolutionary outlook and a unique, divine-sanctioned sense of hubris. Western states should require the regime, as a precondition for any future political deal, to release all hostages and forswear hostage-taking in the future.
2020-12-10 00:00:00
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