“No one thought something like this could happen. It was a huge surprise”
If you’re planning on visiting Iran, don’t. Even if you’re not American, no matter how friendly your government may be toward Iran and no matter how high a position you may occupy, you’re just a potential hostage.
And the standard procedure with reporters, diplomats or just random people is for their company, e.g. the Washington Post or the European Union to cover up your disappearance while they conduct more “diplomacy”.
Of course, that’s a problem when your diplomats are being taken hostage.
A Swedish citizen working for the European Union diplomatic corps has been imprisoned in Iran for more than 500 days, making him an important bargaining chip for Tehran as it tries to wring concessions from the West.
The arrest, which has been kept under wraps for over a year by the Swedish and European Union authorities, appears to be part of an expanding pattern of what has become known as Iran’s “hostage diplomacy.”
A hostage diplomacy that involves taking diplomats hostage.
So the real question is how soon can we get John Kerry on the next available flight to Tehran?
“Every time we had a diplomatic meeting at all levels, we have put the issue on the table. Relentlessly, we have been working for the freedom of Mr Floderus. And we will continue doing that,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell claimed. “We will not stop until Mr Floderus will be free.”
Borrell presumably was sitting at a table that wasn’t located in Iran.
Freeing Floderus either means applying serious pressure, a no-no, or trading hostages.
Iran announced in July last year that it had arrested a man on suspicion of espionage, two weeks after an Iranian citizen received a life jail term in Sweden for his role in the Iranian regime’s 1988 mass executions of thousands of opponents.
A Stockholm court found former Iranian prison chief Hamid Noury guilty of “aggravated crimes against international law” and “murder”.
So will Sweden pull a Biden and trade hostages? Probably. Especially when dealing with people this clueless.
“I was extremely scared, sad and worried. I still am. No one thought something like this could happen. It was a huge surprise,” European Commissioner Ylva Johansson said Tuesday.
No one could have seen this coming. What were the odds that a regime that diplomats hostage after seizing power… would go on taking diplomats hostage?
Especially when they’re not Americans.
PMK says
Under the Vienna Convention, individuals acting for their governments are granted diplomatic immunity depending on their rank and need to carry out their diplomatic mission without fear of becoming entangled in personal legal issues.
A diplomatic corps is defined as the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country or body.
In what capacity was this person working for the EU diplomatic corps? Was he attached to an embassy or consulate? Did he have diplomatic status as a representative of the EU or was he an outside contractor? Who would speak for him or seek his release? Sweden or Brussels?
KoshsShadow says
Sweden should state (as the US should have in 1979) that since Iran refuses to accept diplomatic immunity, their diplomats will not receive it, and arrest all Iranian diplomats in the country. If none, find ones at the UN and ask that they get extradited.
Iran needs to be treated as the rogue state it is, and thrown out of the UN and all civilized countries.
And all trade banned.
Kepha says
I agree with you that the Iranian mullahs deserve a second visitation of Hulegu Khan, but they learned an important lesson in 1979 : hostage-taking pays, and the USA won’t do anything to stop such actions.
@Koshsshadow: The USA could not have done anything to Iran in 1979, especially get it kicked out of the UN. In those days, the UN was dominated by a powerful coalition of the Soviet Bloc, the Third World Hyena pack, China, and the Islamic states which probably secretly liked seeing the USA kicked for its support of Israel. The USA was still reeling from its Indochina debacle. If China and the Soviets seemed on the brink of war, it was only because they saw themselves fighting over the spoils of an unqualified victory. The Iranian Tudeh and Mullahs were both aware of that geopolitical situation, ad the former was very confident that it would win the Iranian Revolution up to the too-late moment when they realized the latter had done an end run around them.
Christopher Watson says
For hundreds if not thousands of years countries in the west, even in a state of warfare, have found ways speaking to other countries. Occasionally it has been speaking to an enemy under a white flag; or speaking through a third party. There is always a method to make ones views and needs known. However, now we have a new situation: certain countries in the middle-east have no idea how this system works. They would much rather kill, kill, and kill rather than talk to obtain victory or understanding. And there is a certain President who seems to think that the best way if threatened is to offer vast amounts of money and surrender immediately. No, the best way to deal with a state like that is to hit them very, very hard. The Germans and Japanese have been lovely people since 1949.
Elizabeth lawson says
Iran has over and over proved itself to be a rogue regime – a pariah state. Expect NOTHING from these butchers from an age long passed. Our civilized nations would do themselves, and others, a great service by stopping ALL immigration from Iran – at least from those who had taken a vow of NON VIOLENCE. Let these savages kill each other.