The Iran hostage crisis - where did it all go right?

I am with Andrew Roberts on the rules governing the behaviour of the captured servicemen in Iran. We certainly need to revisit the advice that forces are given on their behaviour if captured.

But aside from that, the near universal view that Iran has won a great victory, humiliating Britain at will, seems somewhat wide of the mark. They got no apology or concession, yet they returned the hostages anyway.

Mickey Kaus asks:

Am I missing something? Why exactly was the resolution of the latest Iran hostage crisis a "success" for Iran and a "humiliation" for Britain?

and adds:

Didn't they blink? If that's humiliation, it's not far from what a U.S.-U.K. victory in the crisis would look like.

So while I am all for learning Roberts' type lessons about what we did wrong, we also need to establish what we did right.

It would be extremely useful to know what encouraged Iran to release the forces when we had not given in to any of their demands. If it worked once, it might work again.

Comments

[Martyn Rew]

Mickey Kaus obviously is missing something. Iran now have free access to smuggle whatever they want in to Iraq plus 2 extra boats to use.
Also, while not many people in the West will recognize the 'confessions' I am sure that there are a number of Middle Eastern and/or Muslim people who will take it as more confirmation of wrongdoing from the West.