A Dhimmi's Eye View Of Iran's Release of Roxana Saberi

A few weeks ago, Iran charged Miss Nebraska, Roxana Saberi, with being a spy and imprisoned her for eight years in what was, by all accounts, a kangaroo trial. This is par for the incredibly repressive and brutal theocracy - it is nothing that they have not done repeatedly, in one form or another, since coming to power in 1979. One would expect a Brit to be particularly sensitive to this, as Iran held UK sailors hostage two years ago. Enter the misguided David Blair of the Telegraph, who sees in the release a conciliatory gesture from Iran.

In the absence of any formal contact, the [U.S. and Iran] communicate by sending signals. This may be the best way of understanding the release of Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who was freed from jail in Tehran this week.

By reducing her sentence for alleged espionage, and allowing her to leave prison immediately, Iran may be sending a conciliatory signal to America. This move could be designed to deliver a message that not every member of Iran’s regime is interested in total confrontation with the West.

I hate to disabuse Mr. Blair of his view, but Iran's release of Ms. Saberi is hardly a gesture of conciliation. What Iran did in subjecting Ms. Saberi to criminal sanction was a lawless and outrageous act in the first place. To credit Iran now with a "conciliatory gesture" that should earn good will for ending this outrage would be ludicrous. It would be nothing less than rewarding Iran for their lawlessness in the first place.

If Mr. Blair is unfamiliar with the power centers in Iran, there is really only one that matters when it comes to dealing with the U.S. - it is with the Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Khamenei. To suggest either that Ms. Saberi could have been tried for spying without Khamenei's approval or that she was released without his approval speaks of a fundamental lack of appreciation for how Iran is governed. And it also projects a Western style rationality to Iranian decision making that has no basis in fact. Mr. Blair wants to see a rational Iran, and therefore looks for even the remotest sign in lawless acts. But to be honest, Mr. Blair, if the theocracy in charge of Iran had the remotest of such leanings in their make-up, Ms. Saberi would not have have been charged and tried on a bogus charge of spying in the first place.

To the contrary, Iran's acts as regards Ms. Saberi are designed to establish the theocracy's lack of respect for the U.S. and a demonstration of its ability to act against Americans in any way it sees fit. The treatment of Ms. Saberi was not an act of conciliation, it was a shot across the bow. They are prepping for unconditional talks with Obama.

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