The Islamic Republic of Iran and Tony Blair's Government, Round Three

If the truth is to be told, it seems British Prime Minister Tony Blair may have set his government up again for another trouncing by the Islamic Republic of Iran again, but this time over the aftermaths of the fifteen sailors and marines captured and released by the Revolutionary Guards after eleven days. In the first round of the wrangling over the captured personnel, which began right after their capture, the Islamic Republic seemed to have won. The reason for that verdict being that the hot rhetoric from Mr. Blair's government could compel the Islamic Republic to yield. In fact, it was Mr. Blair that backed down and changed his tone from harsh to mild and conciliatory. The second round of their wrangling ended with the Islamic Republic voluntarily releasing the captured personnel. for that, they also scored a PR victory over Mr. Blair.

The post-debrief story given to the British and international media by the sailors and marine is that they were held and interrogated in isolation from one another, which amounted to psychological torture. According to reports, they claimed that that made them to feel pressured to confess all that they were shown to have confessed in the videos that were released by the Islamic Republic on state television.

Well, going by a statement from the Islamic Republic today, a documentary video and book on those British servicemen and woman will soon be released to the public. The claim is that both the video and book will contain everything from the capture of the fifteen, where exactly they were captured, and up until when they were released. Many Iranians who were interviewed by some international media outlets have expressed their surprise at the claim made by the fifteen personnel that their interrogation in isolation from one another amounts to torture. Those Iranians who talked to the BBC indicated that it would be unrealistic for people who were captured and held for violation of Iranian territorial waters would expect that they would have been interrogated together.

If and when the video and book are released and they show unequivocally that the captured personnel had truly strayed into Iranian territorial waters and that what some people all over the world called coerced confessions from them were otherwise, then it would mean that the Islamic Republic has scored yet another media victory against Mr. Blair’s government in the episode.