06 January 2016By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
Although most of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's prattle is
not worth thinking about, this time he has hit the nail on the head.
Commenting on Iran taking 10 US marines into custody, he asked whether Iran
would dare to do the same if the naval crafts were Russian.
It is very clear that the Iranian leadership deliberately detained, humiliated
and denounced them before their release, confident that it was an adventure
with mild consequences. This is because it is not uncommon for ships to enter
territorial waters in error and then get directed out of them.
Not only were those on the two boats arrested, they were also photographed and
their images were circulated quickly and widely by Iranian official propaganda
systems. The images showed the ten sailors surrendering and raising their
hands above their heads. They were exploited and interrogated by the Iranian
media and forced to say that they entered Iranian waters accidentally and that
they were sorry for their actions.
It is difficult to believe that the Iranian leadership did not know about the
incident until afterwards and that they then intervened to release the
sailors. The anger at Iran launching a missile close to an American aircraft
carrier three weeks ago is echoing in Congress and the American media. It is
natural that Iranian naval decisions such as detaining vessels or arresting
American soldiers are subject to top political decision makers due to the
seriousness of tension in the waters of the Gulf. It is important to look at
the series of acts committed by Iran in a short period of time, and it is
predicted that this bad behaviour will not change. Despite Iran being a few
days away from having economic sanctions lifted and handing over $50 billion
as part of the nuclear deal, Iran has surprised the world by testing a missile
capable of carrying a nuclear warhead which is considered a breach of the
agreement by the United Nations. The burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran
and its consulate in Mashhad is another serious international offence. Its
navy also fired a missile close to the US aircraft carrier in international
waters three weeks ago and then arrested US sailors. All of this confirms that
the nature of the Iranian regime will never change even if the president seems
sincere when he expresses his government's desire to open up.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers
of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass
communications. He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He
is currently based in Dubai.
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EsinIslam.Com
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