Good news from Iran
Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 5, 2007
According to national news reports, Iran is preparing today to release the 15 British sailors
and marines they captured and have held since March 23.
The seizure occurred in the Persian Gulf, with Iran claiming the sailors had trespassed on Iranian territorial waters, while Britain claimed they were in Iraqi waters, according to The New York Times.
The release is certainly unexpected, but welcome news, since the Brits were seized at gunpoint and the condition of their imprisonment was mostly unknown.
No details have been released as to the negotiations involved in the prisoner release, yet it is a hopeful sign regarding relationships between western nations and Iran.
Tony Blair and the British government stood firm, yet did not become emotional.
Blair is quoted in The Times as saying, “And to the Iranian people I would simply say this: we bear you no ill will. On the contrary, we respect Iran as an ancient civilization, as a nation with a proud and dignified history.”
It is refreshing to see the disagreement resolved peacefully, through communication rather than force.
Any thinking person on the planet saw the Iranian manipulation of the facts as just that. They also resorted to Vietnam-era tactics in having the sailors “confess” their crimes.
This, no doubt, will backfire on the country and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But, hopefully, the peaceful resolution is a sign that Iran will be reasonable in the future. In the meantime, our government must remain resolute in the demands that have been put on that country to end its nuclear
program.