Iran’s Intentionally Incendiary Actions

The Iranian seizure of 15 British soldiers a few days ago has received tons of press, but I noticed today an interesting tidbit buried way down in an LA Times article:

“Iran’s state-run Arabic language Alalam TV aired images of the detainees…” (emphasis added)

Wait, hold up. Less than one percent of Iranians speak Arabic; more speak Luri and Balochi, neither of which I’d even heard of until today. This is an important point, even though the latest New York Times and Washinton Post stories don’t mention it.

Broadcasting video of Western prisoners on an Arabic-language network would seem to be a very clear sign that Iran is posturing for the Arab world — specifically, Iraq. Whether to gain regional support, to discredit the occupation forces in Iraq, or to distract from pressure over its nuclear program, I can’t tell, but their intended audience is obvious.

Couple this with reports that Iran is refusing offers of mediation, making excuses about its original claims, and blocking diplomatic access to the prisoners, and we have a very tense situation indeed. There’s really only one hopeful bit of news so far — Turkey is working furiously to head off a crisis, over the fear it will be drawn into a NATO-Iran conflict.

Here’s the actual video:

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