Iran’s Clenched Fist to America Now Tehran is arresting U.S. citizens who support the regime.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-clenched-fist-to-america-1446683784
So much for the Tehran thaw. In September liberal hopes ran high that the nuclear deal with Iran and the lifting of economic sanctions would lead to an era of good feeling with the mullahs, complete with new openings for Western businesses and diplomatic cooperation over regional crises. Our friends at the New York Times arranged to lead guided tours for adventurous travelers.
Maybe those tourists should reconsider. In recent days Tehran has arrested two U.S. citizens, bringing to five the number of Americans known to be under Iranian lock and key. They include Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who has spent nearly 500 days in prison. Former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati has been imprisoned since 2011 on espionage charges, and Saaed Abedini, a Muslim-born convert to Christianity, was arrested in 2012 on charges of leading an underground house-church movement.
The latest arrests are especially chilling—and revealing. Nizar Zakka is a Lebanese-American who lives in Washington and was visiting Tehran for a conference at the invitation of the Iranian government. He disappeared Sept. 18 only to resurface this week in the regime’s custody.
Siamak Namazi is an Iranian-born American businessman who was taken from his mother’s house in Tehran in mid-October. Mr. Namazi has long been an outspoken advocate of closer U.S.-Iranian ties and even worked in the Iranian Housing Ministry in the mid-1990s during the presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, now considered a relative moderate but known then as a hardliner. As in the Stalinist purges of the 1930s, Iran’s victims include ideological fellow-travelers.
The arrests come as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has publicly reaffirmed his regime’s commitment to its “Death to America” slogan and set new conditions on the nuclear deal that amount to a unilateral renegotiation. On Wednesday an adviser to Mr. Khamanei insisted “Iran will not cooperate directly or indirectly with the United States” over a settlement in Syria, despite John Kerry’s entreaties.
Some speculate that the arrests are part of Mr. Khamenei’s effort to underscore his regime’s ideological purity and beat back domestic calls for reform. But the Islamic Republic has been in the business of taking hostages since its beginning, no matter whether the president is a reputed moderate like current leader Hasan Rouhani, or a firebrand like predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
When it comes to the Islamic Republic, international goodwill is invariably met with contempt and cruelty. In the wake of the nuclear deal, this is a lesson the West will have to learn all over again.
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