We seem to have a long history of making "wonderful" deals with Iran in which they always get more in the process. Such was the case when we made a deal with them some 36 years ago when Iran held hostage more than 60 of our embassy staff in Tehran for 444 days! Iran had committed a terrorist act, an act that was totally against all international conventions, against the diplomatic convention that they were supposed to abide by as a nation. But what did we do? We first protested, but that didn't work. Then we attempted a military rescue which went south, the famous Desert One fiasco. Next we closed their embassy in Washington and sent their diplomats home! Then, together with the completely "toothless" UN, we imposed sanctions and Iran simply thumbed their nose at everyone. It is small wonder that Iran and other "uncooperative" countries have total lack of respect and regard for the outdated and ineffective UN!
There is a rule by which countries operate their diplomatic missions abroad, informally it is called a "tit-for-tat" rule. We even have a special office set up for that in the State Department. In other words, if country one kicks out two of our diplomats, then we kick out two of their diplomats of equal rank. If country two allows our diplomats to have only one vehicle, then their diplomats are allowed to have one vehicle only, so on and so forth. Generally speaking, that rule is applied across the board, more or less. However, it seems we are always behind the curve. For instance, in Saudi Arabia our female members (family and employees) of our mission are not allowed to drive cars because that country does not allow women to drive. Yet, the Saudi women are allowed to drive in our country! Mexico allows our diplomats to register only one car for personal use (with diplomatic plates) while we place no such restrictions on Mexican diplomats in the U.S. When you consider the fact that we have less than ten diplomatic and consular missions in Mexico (the number varies since we open or close small posts depending on funding) while Mexico has over 48 in our country, something just does not balance! So, you get the point.
For the past couple days the big story in the news has been that Iran had detained ten of our navy personnel, held them for several days and used them for propaganda purposes. They did exactly what Taliban, Al Qaeda, or North Korea (or the old Soviet Union) would have done, which was to make one of the sailors "apologize" and admit "guilt" for entering Iranian waters. It was a very unpalatable thing to watch on TV, thankfully, no American sailor appeared to have been physically abused or hurt. Then, of course, the big news that in a magnanimous gesture, the government of Iran released the ten American sailors. Shortly word began to leak out that our illustrious Secretary of State John Kerry had negotiated with his good friend the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to secure the release of the Americans. Word also leaked that both President Obama and Kerry had offered their apology to the Iranians! Now since when do you need to apologize when it was an unintentional straying into Iranian waters due to mechanical breakdown? Of course, both the White House and the State Department vehemently denied that either Obama or Kerry had apologized to the Iranians. But it is highly unlikely that Iran would have released the sailors so quickly had there not been an apology!
In many ways, dealing with Iran is like dealing with North Korea. Both countries's leadership seem to have unreasonable hatred for the United States. The North Koreans have kept that hatred simmering for the past 63 years and have used it to motivate their people. Iran has only been our enemy for 37 years, a little more than half the time the North Koreans have hated us. However, don't be fooled by the fact that its only been 37 years that Iran has called us the "Great Satan." Their hatred for us has not only a political base, but religious as well! So, when all is said and done, Iran's leadership is no more trustworthy than North Korean, when it comes to our relations!
Now this morning the big news is that the four U.S. citizens held in Iranian jail will be released. None of the four had committed any crime, although they were accused of being spies, a totally unfounded accusation. In return for the release of four U.S. citizens, we are releasing seven Iranians held in U.S. for "violating sanctions." In other words, these seven were involved in trying to smuggle electronics or other prohibited items to Iran and perhaps were also involved in actual espionage. The government will not release the details of their violations of sanctions. But wait, that isn't all. We are also going to remove 14 Iranians from the International Terrorist Watch List! If that wasn't enough, conveniently the IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency) announced that sanctions against Iran's oil sales will be lifted completely, immediately. Now Iran has been selling oil through intermediaries since this summer when the "Iran Nuclear Deal" was penned and they have been selling it on the black market for a long time. What has happened now is that they can openly sell their oil and also receive money for the sales in their banks, which was not allowed before!
So, to gain the release of four U.S. citizens who were held on trumped up charges, we release seven known Iranian "spies" (I don't know what else to call them when they were illegally trying to sneak out forbidden technology), take 14 known and suspected Iranian terrorists off the International Terror Watch List, and open up Iran's ability to freely trade in oil on the international market and allow their banks to do business in U.S. and elsewhere. I don't know, in my book it was a lop-sided deal. But I believe that isn't all. I believe this whole thing started when Kerry was "negotiating" to get the release of those sailors who got caught straying into Iranian waters. For that, Kerry and Obama paid the price of apologizing to Iran for something that needed no apology!
I said earlier that Iran was like North Korea in certain ways. One of those similarities is their demand for apology for something that needed no apology! For them it was an important point to get us to grovel! North Koreans would define it as our "loss of face" and their gain! Iran, no doubt would define it more or less the same way. It is a victory for them to have the "Great Satan" apologize to them, even if it was for only an imagined offense! Apparently our leaders in Washington don't understand this particular aspect of Iranian culture. Either that, or our leadership simply doesn't care and doesn't mind humbling itself, literally kow-towing to Iran just to gain some political points at home! Yes, it is great to get those U.S. citizens out of Iranian jail. Yes, we should try to always get Americans out of foreign imprisonment if they are falsely imprisoned. But at what cost? Was it a smart move to trade six Taliban prisoners who were in Gitmo for that deserter Bowe Bergdahl? Those freed terrorists, wherever they are, are probably planning to, if they haven't already, tried to kill Americans. But I guess it is important for this administration to get political points, after all, why do such a lop-sided deal?
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