Iranian politicians are no different from politicians everywhere. When it comes to hot topics they like plenty of wiggle room.
Jason Rezaian, the American journalist imprisoned in Evin, is one hot topic.
But on Sunday night’s edition of the CBS current affairs program 60 Minutes, President Hassan Rouhani ran out of wiggle room.
Journalist Steve Kroft, who was in Tehran for a one-on-one interview with the president, asked a very direct question about the price of Jason’s release.
“Would you support a prisoner exchange?”
What Rouhani didn’t say in response is as interesting as what he did.
He didn’t parrot the party line that we’ve heard before: that justice had to run its course. That the Islamic state took espionage charges seriously, but Iran’s courts would no doubt deliver a fair verdict based on evidence any time soon.
No. He dropped that pretense and gave the clearest indication yet that, for the regime, Jason is not a spy but a human asset with barter value.
“I don't particularly like the word exchange”, said Rouhani. “But from a humanitarian perspective, if we can take a step, we must take it. The American side must take its own steps.”
Rouhani may not like the word “exchange” but that’s what he means – that Iran will swap Jason Rezaian for Iranian citizens in jail in the US for doing an end-run around sanctions.
“We have Iranians who are imprisoned in the United States,” he said. “Iranians who are being prosecuted. And most of them are being prosecuted for circumventing the sanctions. And, you know, that from the beginning we considered the sanctions to be wrong, and we encouraged everyone to circumvent them. We consider all those prisoners to be innocent, and consider it wrong that they are in prison.”
So much for wiggle room. Rouhani even justified this extra-judicial score-settling by admitting that Iran was complicit in their crimes.
Related articles:
Jason Rezaian Marks One Year in Prison
Rouhani Two Years on: Jailed Journalists and a Muzzled Civil Society
More blogs from Firouz Farzani:
Iran’s Obsession with America’s Human Rights
Human Rights – Better than Universal. Islamic!
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