Tehran now a world leader … in political game of captives

Jolie King was seized with her Australia boyfriend Mark Firkin, allegedly for flying a drone without a licence near the capital Tehran. Picture: Supplied/ Instagram

Four Australians are now being detained in Iran, probably for the crime of being Australian, or British, or in two of the cases, both.

Iran, with China and North Korea, has become one of the leading exponents of hostage ­diplomacy in the world today.

It took possession of a British-flagged oil tanker a month ago to give it leverage in winning the ­release of one of its own oil tankers, which had been impounded for breaching European Union sanctions against providing oil to Syria.

After its inevitable release, the Iranian tanker duly delivered the oil to Syria.

Since 2016 it has held Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British journalist, in prison on the absurd charge of attempting to overthrow the government.

An Australian-British academic has been in prison in Iran since last year and was recently sentenced to 10 years in jail, a typical sentence for espionage. An Australian-British blogger and her Australian boyfriend were ­arrested 10 weeks ago. We do not know the charges they may face.

Another woman, dual Australian-Iranian citizen and Melbourne University demographer Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi, was arrested in Iran in December, charged with trying to “infiltrate” Iranian institutions.

She is thought to be on bail, but cannot leave Iran while her case is being investigated.

Some British politicians have seen this as an obvious next step in Iranian hostage diplomacy.

The Iranian regime is the world pioneer in this despicable practice, having taken the whole American embassy in Tehran hostage after the ayatollahs came to power in 1979.

In 2003, Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi died in custody in Iran after she had been arrested on unspecified charges.

It was widely reported that ­Kazemi had been beaten while in custody.

Iran is a major global sponsor of terrorism and a source of deep instability in the Middle East. It has also supported the Houthi war in Yemen.

Its relations with Britain have turned sharply downwards in recent months both because its oil tanker was impounded by the British in Gibraltar, and because Britain, with Australia, has joined the US in an operation to provide security for civilian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

However, the Iranian government was also severely critical of Australia for joining the Strait of Hormuz operation.

Canberra is critical of Iran’s behaviour but supports the nuclear treaty Iran signed with the US and leading European powers. Britain continues to support the treaty, which US President Donald Trump repudiated and withdrew from. It is unclear whether these most recent actions on Iran’s part are primarily anti-British or anti-Australian.

While it is a reasonable ­assumption that the arrests are part of Iran’s hostage diplomacy, it is also a brutal, paranoid and at times unco-ordinated regime, which can take actions without a logical explanation.

It is just possible that the ­arrests have no larger geo-strategic connection. Unfortunately, it is more likely they are deliberate and political. And if they weren’t political in the first instance, their treatment will have quickly become political.

The Morrison government is right to do everything it can to ­assist our citizens and permanent residents caught up in a legal system that has no integrity at all.