[Marxism] Ahmadinejad's "Gift" (WSJ)

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(These imperialist powers never give up their habit of underestimating 
what the peoples of the less-developed countries can do. Perhaps there 
is a social basis for this incapacity? Yet they really ought to try to 
learn something from history. A better world IS possible. The solution 
to huamanity's problems does not lie in violence, but in dialogue and 
discussion to resolve disputes. Ideas, not bullets, that's the way.)
======================================================================

WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 4, 2007 -- 12:30 p.m. EDT

Ahmadinejad's 'Gift' 
By TIM ANNETT

Iran said it would release 15 British service members that it
detained nearly two weeks ago in the Persian Gulf, ending a
diplomatic standoff between Tehran and London that had sent energy
prices soaring on fears of a broader conflict.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that he had decided to pardon the
sailors and marines, framing the move as a "gift" to the British
people on the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad and
Easter. The group was captured on March 23, purportedly for
navigating into Iranian waters to board a vessel as part of a routine
security operation in the Gulf. Britain has contested Iran's version
of events, saying that the sailors were well within Iraqi territorial
waters and that Tehran had submitted conflicting accounts of exactly
where the sailors had been taken prisoner. Mr. Ahmadinejad made it
clear that Tehran's view of what led to the episode hadn't softened.
"I want to thank the Iranian coast guard who courageously defended
and captured those who violated their territorial waters," he said,
before pinning medals to the chests of the Coast Guard officers who
detained the British force. Iranian television also showed Mr.
Ahmadinejad shaking hands with the detainees, who were dressed in
business suits. The British government said it welcomed the news and
was awaiting word on the "methods and timing" of the release.

A breakthrough appeared close in recent days. Iran's top envoy, Ali
Larijani, had said Tehran wanted to reach a diplomatic resolution to
the impasse amid reports that direct talks had taken place between
him and representatives from Prime Minister Tony Blair's office.
Further, an Iranian diplomat who had been held captive in Iraq since
early this year was released yesterday, and Iran's state news
agencies reported today that Iranian representatives would be
permitted to meet with five Iranian men who were arrested in Irbil,
Iraq, by American forces late last year. The men were accused of
providing supplies to Iraqi militias. Both London and Washington
insisted that the developments in Iraq were happening independently
of talks on the captured sailors, however, and Mr. Ahmadinejad said
that there was no link between the developments.

Energy markets heaved a great sigh of relief. Crude-oil futures had
soared amid the standoff, as traders feared that Tehran might decide
to clamp the flow of oil shipments to apply pressure on the West --
and prices promptly fell by roughly a dollar after word of the
sailors' release hit the wires. If Iran did shut down its oil exports
it would be no small affair. The country is the fourth largest
exporter of crude oil in the world, and whenever Iran begins to
bicker with Western powers over its uranium-enrichment program or the
Iraq war or whatever disagreement bubbles to the surface, oil markets
get nervous. Indeed, the stalemate over the sailors helped to push
crude to multimonth highs in recent sessions. That was worrying news
to many economists, who are counting on consumer spending to keep
economic growth firing on all cylinders amid anemic business
investment. By midday, crude-oil futures sank about 75 cents to
$63.87 a barrel.

* * *

Blair Confirms Release Of Detained Britons

Associated Press April 4, 2007 1:17 p.m.

LONDON - Iran on Wednesday freed the 15 detained British sailors and
marines in what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called an Easter gift
to the British people.

Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed the release and said the United
Kingdom bore no ill will toward the Iranian people.

"I'm glad that our 15 service personnel have been released and I know
their release will come as a relief not just to them but to their
families," Mr. Blair said. "Throughout, we have taken a measured
approach, firm but calm, not negotiating but not confronting,
either."

Mr. Ahmadinejad awarded medals Wednesday to coast guard officials who
intercepted the 15 U.K. sailors and marines. He then announced the
British citizens would be freed.

Mr. Ahmadinejad pardoned the sailors and announced they would be
released following a news conference at which he awarded medals of
honor to the Iranian coast guards who intercepted the Britons in the
northern Gulf on March 23. "On behalf of the great Iranian people, I
would like to thank the Iranian coast guard for courageously
defending our Iranian territorial waters," the president said at a
press conference.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said Iran will never accept trespassing in its
territorial waters. "We are sorry that British troops remain in Iraq
and their sailors are being arrested in Iran," he said.

He asked Mr. Blair not to "punish" the crew for confessing they had
been in Iranian waters when they were seized by Iranian coast guard.
Iran broadcast videotapes of some of the crew giving confessions,
infuriating the U.K. government.

The release of the 15 would bring to an end a standoff sparked when
the crew was seized as it searched for smugglers off the Iraqi coast.
The U.K. denied Iranian claims the crew had entered Iranian waters.
Mr. Ahmadinejad said Iran wasn't seeking a "confrontation" when it
intercepted the British, "but the deplorable conduct of the British
government led to the prolonging of this incident."

Mr. Ahmadinejad also criticized Britain for deploying Leading Seaman
Faye Turney in the Gulf, pointing out that she is a woman with a
child. "How can you justify seeing a mother away from her home, her
children? Why don't they respect family values in the West?" he asked
of the British government.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said the sailors would be taken to Tehran airport at
the end of the press conference. He said he had pardoned the sailors
as a gift to the United Kingdom people and to mark the birthday of
Islam's Prophet Muhammed and Easter.

After the news conference, state television showed Mr. Ahmadinejad
meeting with the British crew, dressed in business suits, at the
presidential palace. He shook hands and chatted with them through a
translator, and a caption to the video said the meeting was taking
place as part of the "process of release."

"We appreciate it. Your people have been really kind to us, and we
appreciate it very much," one of the crew could be heard telling Mr.
Ahmadinejad in English.

Another said: "We are grateful for your forgiveness."

Mr. Ahmadinejad responded in Farsi, "You are welcome."

Mr. Ahmadinejad said there was no link between the release of the
Britons and the release in Baghdad on Monday of an Iranian diplomat
who was seized by gunmen wearing Iraqi military uniforms in January.
"If we had wanted to exchange Jalal Sharafi with the rest [the
Britons] we would have exchanged him for 100,000. But we pardoned
them," he said, adding the decision was "based on humanitarian
considerations."

Mr. Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad,
was seized in February when his car was intercepted by vehicles
carrying armed men in the Karradah district of Baghdad. The gunmen,
who wore Iraqi uniforms, forced him into one of their vehicles and
sped away.

Envoy to Meet With Detained Iranians

In separate developments, Iran's state media said earlier Wednesday
an Iranian envoy will be allowed to meet the five Iranians detained
by U.S. forces in January in northern Iraq.

The Iraqi government said the men were arrested at an office that was
supposed to become an Iranian consulate. The U.S. has accused the
five of having ties to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard network that
was supplying money and weapons to insurgents in Iraq. Iran denounced
the raid and insisted that the five were diplomats who were engaged
exclusively in consular work.

The men were detained in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish
self-governing region in northern Iraq. Iraqi Kurds, like the
country's Shiites, maintain close ties with Shiite-dominated Iran,
despite their warm relationship with the U.S. -- and they had been
upset over the arrests in their own capital.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, himself a Kurd, said the case
of the detained Iranians had no connection with that of the British
sailors and marines. However, the moves on that case and the release
of the Iranian diplomat raised the possibility that a possible swap
was in the works.

In Baghdad, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said he couldn't
comment on the Islamic Republic News Agency report but added that
Iran "has asked us to expedite our investigation" into the arrests.

Copyright C 2007 Associated Press


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