Iran

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Resisting Captors Was "Not an Option"

Brit sailors say they were threatened, psychologically tortured

(Newser) - Britain's freed sailors say they were blindfolded, psychologically tortured, and isolated from each other during their captivity in Iran. They were lined up while weapons were cocked, and told that if they did not say they were in Iranian waters when they were caught, they would face seven years in...

Britons Ask: Were Captives Too Cozy With Iranians?

Co-operation called, "Bloody Shambles"

(Newser) - As the euphoria over the homecoming of the 15 British captives subsides, some Britons are charging that the sailors and marines went overboard in co-operating with their captors. Lt. Gen. Sir Michael Gray tells London’s Daily Mail: "In my days you would have got name, rank and serial...

Was There a Deal with Iran?
Was There
a Deal with Iran?

Was There a Deal with Iran?

Iranian prisoner in Iraq was freed before British sailors were

(Newser) - Officials deny that concessions were made to Iran for the release of the captured British sailors, but the Times speculates that there may have been a secret deal. An Iranian diplomat held in Iraq for eight weeks was freed the day before the British prisoners were. Also, American officials said...

British Sailors Come Home
British Sailors Come Home

British Sailors Come Home

(Newser) - The fifteen British sailors captured by Iran are back in the UK. As soon as the British Airways jet touched down as Heathrow, Blair traded his measured diplomatic tone  for harsher words, warning the "elements of the Iranian regime" were still arming insurgents inside Iraq."

Wooing Syria Is Tougher Than Pelosi Thinks

Experts laud diplomatic offensive, warn of potential failure

(Newser) - The Wall Street Journal puts Nancy Pelosi's high profile visit to Damascus in perspective in a piece outlining the vexing complexity of relations between Syria and the U.S. A number of Pentagon and State Dept. counterterrorism officials support the  congressional effort  to moderate the President's hard line on Syria,...

IRAN TO RELEASE SAILORS
IRAN TO RELEASE SAILORS

IRAN TO RELEASE SAILORS

(Newser) - The 15 captured British sailors are to be released immediately, says Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The surprise announcement came toward the end of an hour-long press conference, in which Ahmadinejad berated the British government for using the situation to create "media hype." He maintains that the Brits invaded...

Brit Standoff Shows Deeply Divided Iran

Radicals and moderates fight it out, tacitly, over captured sailors

(Newser) - An internal squabble between Iran's radical president and more moderate officials  is in evidence in the crisis over the captive British marines and sailors. President Ahmadinejad and his Revolutionary Guards are pushing for a trial. Cooler heads, including Ali Larijani, the diplomat who offered bilateral negotiations yesterday, are pushing back,...

Iranians, Brits Move Toward Talks
Iranians, Brits Move Toward Talks

Iranians, Brits Move Toward Talks

Top diplomat lays out roadmap for brokering sailors' release

(Newser) - Iran is ready to negotiate freeing its 15 British captives, according to the country's top diplomat. In a cryptic TV interview, Ali Larijani suggested the marines and sailors could be released if the Brits apologized and stopped putting international pressure on Tehran. "We are not interested in the issue...

Crisis Shows Isolated Iran
Crisis Shows Isolated Iran

Crisis Shows Isolated Iran

Tehran isolated - tries to push back

(Newser) - Iran’s abduction of the British sailors and its subsequent belligerence may actually be evidence that international sanctions against the rogue nation are working. Fareed Zakaria argues in Newsweek that Iran’s posturing reflects its growing isolation, after both Russia and China backed U.N. condemnation of its nuclear program....

U.N.'s Worthless If It Can't Get Tough on Iran

U.N. Lawyers outraged at anemic repsonse to hostage-taking

(Newser) - Iran's taking hostages, and the the United Nations is merely "gravely concerned"? Two U.N. lawyers, writing in the LA Times, are disgusted. "The international community's failure to show immediate outrage at Iran's action is deafening," say David Rivkin and Lee Casey. "Ancient legal principles...

They're Lucky They're Not in Guantánamo

Novelist notes British captives have it easy, as detainees go

(Newser) - Iran's British captives may be embarrassed and anxious, but they  appear to be better off than many detainees in American and British hands, observes novelist Ronan Bennett. "They have not been hung from a forklift truck and photographed for the amusement of their captors. They have not had electrodes...

British Captives Standoff Stiffens
British Captives
Standoff Stiffens

British Captives Standoff Stiffens

Experts say there is no clear border between Iran and Iraqi waters

(Newser) - London and Tehran and ratcheted up the rhetoric over the 15 British soldiers being held captive in Iran yesterday, the LA Times reports: Britain got the UN Security Council to issue a statement of "grave concern," while Tehran released more video of sailors professing guilt and issued charts...

Saudi King Calls Iraq War Illegal
Saudi King Calls Iraq War Illegal

Saudi King Calls Iraq War Illegal

Latest evidence of breach with ally

(Newser) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia fired a warning shot at the Bush administration yesterday, calling Iraq “an illegal foreign occupation” and urging Arab leaders to unite to prevent U.S. domination of the region.  The Saudis "are telling the U.S. they need to listen to their...

Iran Promises Female Soldier's Release

Britain steps up pressure by freezing business activity

(Newser) - Iran promised to release by Friday the female sailor captured along with 15 men in a British patrol boat last week. England stepped up pressure to free  the soldiers by cutting off "bilateral business" and publicizing secret documents which mark its boat nearly two miles from Iranian waters at...

Brits Prove Captured Sailors Were in Iraqi Waters

Iran can't stick to a story

(Newser) - The 15 British sailors captured by Iran last week were inside Iraqi waters, British evidence released today shows. The craft's GPS system put it 1.7 nautical miles outside Iranian territory, which a British military helicopter confirms. The Iranian government revised its own version of the location Monday, when its...

Blair Blasts Seizure of British Patrol

Iran said to be looking for swap deal

(Newser) - Tony Blair is furious over Iran's capture of 15 sailors and Marines, but so far, diplomatic efforts have not even yielded where they are being held. “I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us,”   Blair sputtered at a European summit,...

The Uncontainable Kurds
The Uncontainable Kurds

The Uncontainable Kurds

(Newser) - Tehran resident and frequent commentator on Iran, Christopher de Bellaigue, travels west to Turkey to examine the status of Kurds in Turkey. He describes how some have become the fully assimilated Turks that the government so much wanted them to become; but that many have maintained a separate ethnic and...

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