By William Tucker
Chief Correspondent for In Homeland Security
The BBC is reporting that Iran has released 11 political prisoners, including a human rights activist and lawyer. Some of this is seen as a move by Iran’s new so-called reformist president to soften the international image of the Iranian government. While improving the international image was certainly a motivating factor, it certainly wasn’t the only issue that would’ve been considered. Iran is looking to restart the negotiations with the West in general, and the U.S. in particular, over the long disputed nuclear program. President Rouhani has claimed that he now has more leeway in these negotiations as Khamenei has granted the presidency more authority in future talks. While releasing these political prisoners will certainly play well in the international press, they will have little impact on the talks themselves. The west has always been willing to talk with Iran and Iran has always used these talks for its own gain while giving very little in return. Releasing these prisoners now, after the elections have been settled, means those released will have no impact on the political landscape until the next round of elections. This was essentially a low risk move.
Regardless of this recent gesture, Iran will continue to play the same game that it has played for several decades now, it will show an inclination to talk only to walk away after dragging out the negotiations. In essence, Tehran is merely buying time, but what that time will be used for his anybody’s guess; however advancement of their nuclear program is one of the likely issues. One thing to consider in these recent talks, though, is Iran may try to link the Syrian issue to these recent negotiations. Iran may hope that by linking these two separate issues together they can mitigate the potential for becoming too drawn in militarily on the ground in Syria while still maintaining regional influence for one, and two they may see this over complication as a new lever in discussions of their nuclear program. Again, keep in mind that this is not yet played out and there are a lot of factors to consider, but this is would be in keeping with Iran’s past behavior.
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