Lessons from Iran-UK Stand-Off

Although many commentators have weighed in on the recent stand-off between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Tony Blair's government, there are still a few things that have been left unsaid by all the commentators. One of such unsaid things relates to the lessons that future British Prime Ministers would have to derive from the stand-off and how it was resolved: Nothing should discountenance independence in the formulation and execution of foreign policy. If Tony Blair had sub-let the conduct of the efforts to resolve that stand-off to the Bush White House, there's no doubt that it could have ended differently. From the out-set, it was evident from his sharp rhetoric that he was about to do just that. But as that drew immediate sharp response from the Islamic Republic, there's no doubt that some more reasonable people quickly scrambled to rein Mr. Blair in and saved the day by so-doing.

The news report that the Bush people had offered to assist with sending warplanes to buzz overhead around Revolutionary Guards barracks could certainly have provoked the Islamic Republic to a good degree. The outcome of that could have been far from positive for the captured British navy and marine personnel. Going by its conduct since after the events of September 11, 2001, any rational analyst would agree that as far as the Bush White House is concerned, intimidation seems to matter more than positive outcome in its interaction with the rest of the world. Only a fool would have assumed that flying noisy warplanes over head in Iran would have secured the release of the 15 Britons.

If Mr. Blair had been reasonable in his interaction with the Bush White House, perhaps the latter could have thought twice before embarking on its war of choice in Iraq. Maybe, the misguided elements who embarked on the July 7, terrorist attacks in the London subways and buses could have thought twice as well. The British public, no doubt could have been well off for those.