A few points about the recent Iran crisis 0
I recently posted about the value of BBC news for understanding global issues. Well, after following BBC news throughout the recent Iran border dispute, I would have to say Google News was more objective. Doubtless this is because Britain was involved. So I had to look elsewhere for insight and objectivity.
Absolutely the best article you will read about the Iran-hostage crisis: Iran expert Ken Timmerman says their release had everything to do with a show of U.S. naval power in the Persian Gulf.
According to John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations, Iran”…won by seizing British hostages and he won by unilaterally deciding to release them, having found out the answer to the question I think he was posing, which is - how strong a response will Britain make to this act of taking captive these 15 service members?”
According to Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, and head of the maritime section of the British Foreign Office, the issue stems from the murkiness of marine borders:“The truth is nobody can say if [Britain] we were in Iraqi waters or if we were in Iranian waters because at this point the boundary is extremely fuzzy,” he said….What has happened in this case is something of a muddle. The difficulty is that in this area the boundaries, once you get inside territorial waters, are just not defined.”
One thing few people have mentioned is that the the two boats boarded and seized have not been returned . Remember a few years ago when an American fighter plane was forced to land in China? They later dismantled piece by piece and returned it. In some ways, the access to the technology itself was a prize.