Leading Article
It is time to stop appeasing those who kidnapped the servicemen
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was monitoring the situation very carefully and taking the situation very seriously. Britains Ambassador in Tehran had a businesslike meeting with Iranian officials. Tony Blair has muttered that the issue was fundamental for his Government. The Iranians must be quaking at such threats. With the hubris and hypocrisy of a regime attempting to conceal its guilt, Iranian officials insist that the captured men are being well treated but their case must now follow due legal process. What well treated means can well be imagined: some of the Britons who were seized in a similar incident three years ago have described the mock executions, the psychological torture and the intimidating way that their captors tried to force admissions of guilt. As for due legal process, the denial of consular access, the refusal to provide evidence of trespass and the removal of the men to an unknown location hardly suggest the norms of international law.
Iran has already let slip its motives and intentions. The shrill denial that the men were being held hostage or that their case had any connection with the five Iranians detained by the Americans in northern Iraq in January only confirms suspicion that the Revolutionary Guards, who have provided funds, weapons and training to Shia militias, see the Britons as pawns to bargain for the Iranians release. They may also have been responding to the defection six weeks ago of a former head of the Revolutionary Guards.
The Britons abduction was clearly premeditated and the ambush carefully set. The perpetrators perhaps also thought such is the naivety of narrow-minded fanatics that this would influence the UN Security Council and prevent the passage of a second wave of sanctions over Irans refusal to halt its uranium enrichment programme. Both scenarios demonstrate the contempt in which Irans extremists hold world opinion.
It is all the more depressing, therefore, that the Western response has been so feeble. Diplomats hint at a face-saving solution. Analysts point to splits and divisions in Tehran. Some misguided understanding of the kidnapping seems to inhibit any response that may exacerbate tensions. This is precisely the wrong message. It encourages Tehrans hardliners and probably prolongs the bargaining over the mens detention. Even the Shia-dominated Iraqi Government has called on Iran to release the men a far bolder call than anything coming from London or Washington. The coalition cannot allow Tehran to intimidate its neighbour. It must set a deadline for the mens release and tell Iran bluntly that its piracy justifies immediate and more drastic sanctions.