Iranian-British Standoff Leaves Domestic, International Political Fallout

By Gary Thomas Washington 13 April 2007

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Iranian state-run Al-Alam television image of detained British sailors, 30 Mar. 2007

Iran is embroiled in controversy with the West over issues ranging from Iran's nuclear ambitions to its bid to extend its influence in Iraq and the Middle East. Yet, even at such a sensitive time, Iran detained 15 British sailors who were on patrol in the Persian Gulf and held them for nearly two weeks. Britain said its personnel had been in Iraqi waters, not in Iranian waters as Tehran maintains. VOA correspondent Gary Thomas looks at some of the questions surrounding the incident and the possible ramifications.

The reasons for the capture of the British naval personnel in late March, and the subsequent fallout from it, may lie across Iran's western border in Iraq, where analysts say Iran is seeking to extend its influence, and the U.S. is trying to halt it.

The United States says Iran is training Iraqi insurgents and arming them with deadly roadside bombs to attack U.S. forces. Iran denies the charge, dismissing it as propaganda.

President Bush has pledged to halt any cross-border activity. "When we find the networks that are enabling these weapons to end up in Iraq, we will deal with them," said the president. "If we find agents who are moving these devices into Iraq, we will deal with them."

Paul Pillar

So in January, U.S. forces detained five Iranians in the northern city of Irbil. In a separate incident, an Iranian diplomat was abducted by unknown Iraqi gunmen. Former CIA analyst Paul Piller explains what followed.

"So the Iranians felt like they were getting shoved around with that earlier episode in Iraq, two episodes, really, and they wanted to do some shoving back," explained Piller. "It would have been riskier to shove directly back against the United States. So the slightly softer target, if you will, the 'squishier' target but one with whom the message would still be sent [that] 'we're not going to be shoved around,' was the British servicemen."

Karim Sadjadpour

No one outside Tehran's inner ruling circle knows for certain who ordered the action. Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, offers a possible scenario. “I think that at the senior levels in Tehran there's ... a sense of schizophrenia," says Sadjadpour, "that on the one hand, 'we don't want confrontation, we're weary of political and economic isolation,' but on the other hand, 'we're not simply going to lie down when you turn up the heat.'"

Former National Security Council staffer Gary Sick says the United States and Iran have similar interests in a stable Iraq, but that as Iraq's neighbor, Iran will not back off from its bid to exert influence there.

Gary Sick

"What's curious is that the United States and Iran have very close to the same interests in Iraq in the broad sense," says Sick, who now teaches at Columbia University in New York.

"But the difference is that Iran is there, it's on the [Iraqi] border. It's fought a war with Iraq. And Iran is going to stay there. We're going to go away. They will still be there 100 years from now," he continued, "and they have to think about what that's going to mean for their long-term interests. At the moment, I think they feel they're doing pretty well."

A multinational conference on stabilizing Iraq was held in March that included both U.S. and Iranian officials. Another meeting, this time with higher-ranking diplomats, is in the works.

Paul Pillar says the meeting next month in Egypt was another factor in the quick end to the British-Iranian standoff. "I speculate that part of the thinking in Tehran which led to the release after the two weeks of captivity was not wanting to complicate particularly the Iraq conference, which is going to address some subjects that, despite the rhetoric on both sides, both the United States and Iran share many interests, particularly the basic interest of not wanting to have unending and escalating disorder in Iraq. And, of course, for the Iranians," he added, "it's right next door."

The Iranian diplomat who was captured by unknown Iraqi gunmen gained his freedom right before Iran released the British naval personnel. Britain says there is no connection. Negotiations also began to allow Iranian envoys to visit the Iranians in U.S. custody.

Yet, mutual suspicions persist. Iran is threatening to boycott the next Iraq conference unless the five Iranians detained by U.S. forces are released. Iran says they are diplomats. American officials believe they are linked to Iraqi insurgents.

VOASE0413_In the News

13 April 2007

Robinson's Number Is 'Unretired' for a Day to Honor Baseball Hero
This Sunday, at least one player from every major league team will wear the number 42 to remember Jackie Robinson. He broke the sport's color barrier 60 years ago.

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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Jackie Robinson

Sunday will mark an important anniversary in American society. Sixty years ago, Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play in Major League Baseball.

His uniform number, forty-two, was retired as an honor on the fiftieth anniversary. Since then, the only players who could wear that number were those already wearing it.

But a special honor is planned this Sunday for the sixtieth anniversary of the day Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. At least one player from every major league team will wear the number forty-two. That includes every member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jackie Robinson was called up by the Dodgers on April fifteenth, nineteen forty-seven. At that time the team played in Brooklyn, New York.

Blacks and whites had played together for short periods in the late eighteen hundreds in different baseball organizations. But no black players had been admitted to the Major League Baseball that exists today.

Jackie Robinson faced abuse and loneliness. There were death threats. Pitchers threw at his head.

He worked hard not to let the discrimination interfere with his game. He was named

Jackie Robinson slides into home plate during the 1948 season

Rookie of the Year. He went on to play in six World Series in his ten seasons with the Dodgers. Later he became the first African-American in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Jackie Robinson wanted to see African-Americans not just playing baseball but also managing teams. Over the years, the numbers of black managers increased. But the share of black players has decreased.

Jackie Robinson died in nineteen seventy-two. At that time about twenty percent of players were black. But the Institute for Diversity and Ethics at the University of Central Florida says the number last year was only about eight percent. Still, its research shows that the percentage of minorities overall has increased.

Last year almost thirty percent of players were Latino. About two percent were Asian. In all, more than forty percent of professional baseball players were nonwhite.

Almost one-third of all players last season were from other countries. Many players come from the Dominican Republic.

The all-time high for minorities in the major leagues was forty-two percent ten years ago.

The idea to honor Jackie Robinson by wearing his number began with Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Junior. He received permission from the Robinson family and major league commissioner Bud Selig to wear it for the day.

Major League Baseball has since invited players from all thirty teams to wear Jackie Robinson’s number on April fifteenth. But some feel they are not worthy of it. Others say too many people wearing the number takes away from the meaning.

New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera says every player should wear it. He is the only active player who still has the right to wear the number forty-two to every game.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I’m Steve Ember.