<b> Same old, same old with Iran"hostages"</b>

keyvan Salami

[Keyvan Salami]

The so-called "Implementation Day" in the nuclear agreement sealed between the international community and Iran had a number of side-effects, with the release of four Iranian-Americans signaling the most important. These four innocent people were swapped for 7 Iranian regime elements held in detention in America. While this made a lot of noise in the United States and raised major criticism against the Obama administration, it is actually nothing new to those familiar with Iran's "hostage industry".

The names of these four prisoners released on Saturday are Christian convert Pastor Saeed Abedini, former U.S. marine interpreter Amir Hekmati, Washington Post reporter & journalist Jason Rezaian and Nosrattollah Khosravi, an individual known little about before. In this deal Iran saw 14 of its nationals dropped from the Interpol watch list. There is even word that the mastermind behind the assassination attempt in Washington back in 2011 of then-Saudi ambassador to the U.S., and now Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubair is scheduled to be released.

This whole story is the same old-same old with the state terrorism sponsoring regime ruling Iran. Iran's agents and Ministry of Intelligence of spies are arrested while on terrorism and spying missions abroad, and Tehran resorts to arresting a number of foreign citizens under bogus pretexts to obtain their release. These are well known Iranian regime tactics that are described by some as Iran's "hostage industry". Tehran afterwards obtains "confessions" and the hostages may even be placed before trial to then be swapped with its arrested spies at an adequate timing. American media reports mentioned the possibility of this deal and a repeat of Iran's hostage scenario and tactics raised strong criticism from a number of Republican presidential candidates. 3 of the 4 released hostages are: Amir Mirza Hekmati , born in the U.S., worked as an interpreter in the U.S. Marine Corps. He traveled to Iran 4 years to see his relatives, yet was arrested some time later and accused of espionage. Hekmati was initially sentenced to death in a preliminary court. This ruling was then lowered to 1 year behind bars based on charges of 'practical cooperation with America'. Iran then continued with its known scenario and dragged Hekmati to a TV show named "Confessions of U.S. Spies" aired in December 2011. In this program Hekmati confessed to spying for the CIA. He later wrote to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry explaining his TV confessions were coerced and he is practically a hostage used to swap for two prisoners in the U.S. Saeed Abedini , a Christian convert and Iranian-American citizen, accused of degrading Iran's national security through promoting Christianity. He was sentenced to 8 years behind bars. Jason Rezaian ot Text , 40, born in California, journalist and reporter of The Washington Post based in Tehran. He is the most renowned figure of these four prisoners and Iranian judiciary officials had emphasized time and again he was a spy. It is no coincidence that Iran stalled their release to make sure U.S. President Barack Obama's diplomatic checks passed through. There are even more concessions provided by the Obama administration in this drama. We can now come to understand why the Obama administration flip-flopped back in December over new sanctions on Iran's very dangerous ballistic missile program despite two major test launches by Tehran.

Iran's state-run Vatan-e Emruz recently wrote an article on this whole fiasco focusing on the Post reporter: "Whoever Rezaian was, he was not a simple journalist. It is not logical for the U.S. government to accept to deliver a package for the release of a single journalist. The conclusion reached by this daily is a lesson in Iran 's Hostage Industry 101. "If there is a concession taken from the enemy, it is not through the art of diplomacy, but the skill of those who through the right timing and precision measures, materialize a credible asset suitable for a deal."

Once again Iran has proven to the world that while Barack Obama is in the Oval Office the practice of taking Americans hostage can actually render windfalls for the central banker of international terrorism .

[SunkenCiv]

Once again Iran has proven to the world that while Barack Obama is in the Oval Office the practice of taking Americans hostage can actually render windfalls for the central banker of international terrorism.