The Wall Street Journal takes a very tough line on Iran's "act of war" and recounts the Islamic republic's experience seizing Western hostages.

It is worth recalling, however, that Iran was at its most diplomatically pliant after the United States sank much of Tehran's navy after Iran tried to disrupt oil traffic in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s. Regimes that resort to force the way Iran does tend to be respecters of it. It is also far from certain that Western military strikes against Revolutionary Guards would move the Iranian people to rally to their side: Iranians know only too well what their self-anointed leaders are capable of.

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Posted at 8:15 PM in Iran by Andrew Grossman [?] | Permalink

Nile Gardiner takes a very tough line on Iran's seizure of British soldiers.

Iran'€™s seizure of 15 British Navy personnel in Iraqi coastal waters last Friday is a hostile act of war that should be condemned by the UN Security Council and by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It was in addition a clear violation of Iraq's national sovereignty that should draw a firm response from the Maliki administration.

Iran must be warned by London and Washington of the political and military consequences that would result from a failure to immediately release the British prisoners.

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Posted at 8:15 PM in Iran by Andrew Grossman [?] | Permalink

Bottom news of the day.

Iran awarded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez its highest state medal on Sunday for supporting Tehran in its nuclear standoff with the international community, while Chavez urged the world to rise up and defeat the U.S., state-run media in both countries reported....

"Let's save the human race, let's finish off the U.S. empire," Chavez said. "This (task) must be assumed with strength by the majority of the peoples of the world."

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Posted at 9:29 AM in Middle East, Latin America, Iran by Andrew Grossman [?] | Permalink

Well, that explains a lot.

Intelligence reports indicate the leader of Hezbollah is hiding in a foreign mission in Beirut, possibly the Iranian Embassy, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.

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Posted at 2:14 PM in Middle East, Iran by Andrew Grossman [?] | Permalink

The plot thickens.

Israel has information that Hizbullah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

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Posted at 12:43 PM in Middle East, Iran by Andrew Grossman [?] | Permalink

"We have given the Iranians a limited period of time, weeks not months," to respond to an offer for an incentives package for Iran to ensure it does not pursue nuclear weapons, said Bush.

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Posted at 12:27 PM in Middle East, Iran by Andrew Grossman [?] | Permalink

?If we are so concerned that Iran may be making nuclear weapons, why are the Russians completely unconcerned? They are even helping the Iranians.? Fox anchor John Gibson asked....

The ambassador's answer was unexpected. He told of how passionate arguments over Iran were going in within the Kremlin right now. According to Bolton, several high Russian officials are concerned that, not far at all from the Russian border, there is a state that could soon have nuclear arms. That group is inclined to apply pressure on Iran, Bolton says. The American administration has to do everything it can to see that that point of view prevails in the Kremlin. But there is a second, pro-Iranian group of Kremlin officials as well, who point out that Iran is causing a lot of problems for the United States, many more than for Russia. ?That is a dangerous game,? Bolton noted.

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Posted at 12:27 PM in Russia, Middle East, Iran by Andrew Grossman [?] | Permalink

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