Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a surprise announcement this morning that the fifteen British sailors and marines who were kidnapped on March 23 would be released immediately.
It’s hard to know what to make of the announcement. It may reflect the outcome of a conflict between factions inside the Iranian government, or a judgment that there was no further propaganda benefit to be gained by holding the prisoners. The only sign of a quid pro quo was a separate announcement by Iran that “an Iranian envoy would be allowed to meet five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in northern Iraq.” Also, another Iranian “diplomat” captured in Iraq apparently has been released and returned to Iran.
So it looks like a reasonably happy outcome.
To comment on this post, go here.
-
-
Most Read on Power Line
Donate to PL
-
Our Favorites
- American Greatness
- American Mind
- American Story
- American Thinker
- Aspen beat
- Babylon Bee
- Belmont Club
- Churchill Project
- Claremont Institute
- Daily Torch
- Federalist
- Gatestone Institute
- Hollywood in Toto
- Hoover Institution
- Hot Air
- Hugh Hewitt
- InstaPundit
- Jewish World Review
- Law & Liberty
- Legal Insurrection
- Liberty Daily
- Lileks
- Lucianne
- Michael Ramirez Cartoons
- Michelle Malkin
- Pipeline
- RealClearPolitics
- Ricochet
- Steyn Online
- Tim Blair
Media
Subscribe to Power Line by Email
Temporarily disabled
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.