Now that the US has added its voice to the list of nations demanding the release of the 15 British Navy personnel being held by Iran, the question is whether such international pressure will help or hinder. It all depends on how long the Iranians want to keep the sailors’ capture on the front pages. How much is it really in the country’s interests to dramatize the situation? Iran must ask itself whether its actions are counterproductive and harmful to the country’s image and long-term goals. At whatever cost, Tehran must avoid the crisis being used as a pretext for additional punitive international measures against it or, much worse, military action.
This was the fear that King Abdullah conveyed to President Ahmadinejad when they met in Riyadh on March 4. The mark of mature leadership is not in inviting confrontations, but in avoiding them. This does not mean surrender, but statesmanship. Anybody can be tough. But the challenge is to be wise. Iran should take that advice. So should the other parties.
An apology and an expression of regret which Iran wants from Britain has not been forthcoming nor does it appear that they will. Nor, after Washington’s rejection, can Iran use the sailors as leverage in a trade-off for the five Iranians the Americans seized in Iraq where the US alleged they were linked to networks supplying Iraqi insurgents with both technology and weapons.
Because of the unyielding positions both sides are taking, quiet diplomacy is vital. This is not the time for gunboat diplomacy or saber rattling. It is not in the interests of either Iran or Britain that their dispute be ratcheted up to a higher, more dangerous level. Both countries say they can prove where the sailors were at the time of the capture and it will take time for what should be an independent inquiry to settle the matter one way or the other. Iran should, the British feel, allow the sailors to return home until the matter is resolved.
In the meantime, Iran should allow a British delegation or a human rights organization to see the sailors and should consider granting consular access to them. Tehran should also stop televising some of the sailors allegedly confessing to, and apologizing for, their transgressions since this can only fuel anti-Iranian sentiments in Britain and elsewhere.
It is tempting to link the seizure of the sailors to a wider diplomatic game. It could be that their capture was planned in advance and carried out in retaliation for the UN sanctions imposed against Iran, But it is also possible the whole thing is simply the result of a misunderstanding — but one which should not be allowed to mushroom. What started out as an incident that could have been resolved right then and there is now in its 11th day and has been growing into a major confrontation. The affair is no longer bilateral as the Iranian Foreign Ministry claims — or perhaps wishes — but has involved the UN, the EU and now the US, plus several neighboring countries.
