Iran Cleric Says British Embassy Staff to Stand Trial
New York Times
By ALAN COWELL and STEPHEN CASTLE
July 3, 2009PARIS — Brushing aside British and European efforts to seek the release of local British Embassy staff members held in Tehran, the Iranian authorities indicated Friday that they planned to put some of them on trial — a move that deepened a diplomatic crisis and could provoke the withdrawal of ambassadors.
In London, the Foreign Office said it was urgently checking reports that the Iranian authorities planned to put two of its local employees on trial. Nine staff members were seized after the unrest sparked by Iran’s disputed presidential elections on June 12.
Hours after the Iranian threat, the European Union seemed to hold back from an out-and-out showdown, resolving to summon Iranian ambassadors in all 27 countries to send “a strong message of protest against the detention of British Embassy local staff and to demand their immediate release,” a European diplomat said, speaking in return for anonymity.
Other measures — such as a ban on issuing visas to Iranian travelers and a pullout of European ambassadors — would be considered depending on how the crisis unfolded, the diplomat said.
The Iranian authorities accused the local employees of fomenting and orchestrating protests, but pro-democracy Iranians ascribed the violence on the streets to a widespread crackdown by government security forces.
In London, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office, speaking in return for customary anonymity under civil service rules, said: “We are very concerned by these reports and are investigating. Allegations that our staff are involved in fomenting unrest are wholly without foundation. We will be seeking an urgent explanation from the Iranians”…
My understanding of why Obama mostly kept his mouth shut was that he has good sense. By criticizing the Iranian government, the E.U. played in to the Iranian Cleric’s Standard Operating Procedure: Rally support by attacking the west. Remember Jimmy Carter’s debacle. Now we’ll have marching in the streets, burning the British Embassy, etc. All very familiar.
It’s remarkable — as much as the Iranians have loved to rant against the U.S. and “the great Satan,” they have mostly not done so in this crisis. Mostly because Obama didn’t given them the ammunition to use.
It’s much better for the aggressive point to be taken by the Europeans, who have much more leverage in their trade relationship with Iran, which we don’t have.
I think Obama has played this one just perfectly. He has been clear that he condemns the rights violations and the violence used against the people. But he has not “meddled” in the internal matter of their choice of leadership.
Contrast this with george bush’s screaming “Regime Change!” “Axis of Evil.”