01/13/2016 - Iran Nuke Deal Ensured US Sailors' Release

It must have been the shortest hostage crisis in the history of the Middle East.

Not long ago it would have ended very differently. US sailors intercepted at sea, forced to kneel, hands on their heads, taken into custody by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

Cue headlines about a hostage standoff haunting the last year of the Obama presidency.

But Tuesday's incident followed a very different script. On Iranian state television a presenter tamely announced that the US version of events had been taken at face value by Tehran.

Even more extraordinary, an Iranian commander appeared on television, saying Iran believed America's excuse that it had all been an accident and its naval vessels drifted into Iranian waters by mistake.

Forget the "Great Satan", and never mind the "axis of evil" - this was extraordinary and unprecedented.

The sailors were not only released, but also allowed to take their boats with them.

It was far cry from the fate of British sailors captured by Iran in 2007, who were held for almost two weeks and paraded on TV to maximise Britain's embarrassment. Their vessel, in contrast, has apparently never been released.

What a difference a nuclear deal can make. The spirit of detente between the US and Iran ensured a speedy resolution to this crisis before it had a chance to develop.

Not least because the Iranians say they believe the International Atomic Energy Agency will report on Friday that Tehran has complied with the terms of last summer's nuclear deal.

If true, that will compel the West to lift sanctions, meaning billions of dollars in Iranian assets worldwide will be unfrozen. Not even the hardest hardliner in Tehran wants that jeopardised.

So there was some talk of interrogating the American sailors and the Iranians couldn't resist issuing humiliating footage of the US naval personnel kneeling in surrender and pictures of their weapons and explosives. But that was it.

Sceptics will argue this was only Iran ensuring its assets are unfrozen.

The key test they'll say will be when a similar incident occurs after the lifting of sanctions.

In pursuing a deal with Iran the Obama administration and its allies have argued that treating Iran reasonably will persuade it to behave reasonably in future.

It is one thing resolving this crisis with billions of dollars at stake, but quite another doing so when there is no threat of sanctions not being lifted.

But there is no denying that the West's pursuit of a different approach to Iran, much derided in Israel and on the right in Washington, has in this case produced a completely novel outcome.

The optimists will argue that is a sign of what's to come. Their critics will riposte: "Don’t be so naive."

https://rumble.com/vzwlyn-former-israeli-prime-minister-bibi-netanyahu-iran-nuclear-deal.html

Follow me On Truth Social @marc143
Follow me On GETTR @marc143
https://gab.com/marc143
#WalkAway WWG1WGA