Tehran Flexes Its Muscles

The pictures had eerie and disturbing echoes: men in blindfolds squatting on the floor looking disoriented, then being forced to march over rocky ground. These were not images of Abu Ghraib, but videos of British servicemen, part of a naval training team, arrested by Iranian forces after straying into Iranian waters during a storm. The sailors quickly apologized on TV, and after four tense days they were released as moderates in Tehran apparently prevailed in an internal power struggle.

But hard-liners in the Revolutionary Guards had seemed eager to goad London, suggesting the men were special forces. According to Sadegh Ziba Kalam, professor of political science at the University of Tehran, Iran wanted to show "that it is a powerful country in the region that cannot be circumvented and ignored."

Tehran has lots of reasons not to appear meek these days. U.S. forces are now deployed on two sides, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Iran's leaders feel it hasn't been given enough credit for helping the Americans in Afghanistan. It has had recent border disputes with Arab neighbors. The E.U. has just blasted its human-rights record, and U.N. nuclear inspectors have uncovered evidence that contradicts Iranian claims that its nuclear program is purely peaceful in intent. That exercises Washington in particular, but also London, Paris and Berlin, which last October jointly reached an agreement with Tehran to stop activities that might contribute to bomb construction. Just as the incident with the British was winding down, Iran announced it was repudiating the agreement.

Washington now wants the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions. But Iran, with its extensive ties with Iraq's majority Shi'a population, including some militias, has many ways to make life miserable for coalition forces in Iraq — which the mini-saga of the British sailors deftly signaled.