1/10 MUST READ: Powerful piece on how Islamic Republic of Iran uses hostage taking to further its goals. MUST READ by @xiyueWang9 who saw how this works from inside Evin Prison. My thread on his key points especially for those shaping US Iran policy: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-12-07/don-t-let-iran-get-away-with-hostage-taking

2/10 Why does Iranian regime keep taking foreigners hostage as political leverage? Since the 1979 U.S. Emb hostage crisis, the regime has inevitably got something in return for releasing captive foreigners... Inevitably, too, these swaps have been described as “diplomacy.” But..

3/10 when old hostages are freed, regime arrests new ones to replenish stock of political pawns. Its hostage-taking is a manifestation of its anti-diplomacy orientation. It has consistently defied int'l norms, & frequently rejected diplomacy to mitigate its differences w/ others.

4/10 This is b/c of its revolutionary outlook & divine-sanctioned sense of hubris. No other state actor today has so frequently encouraged/ tolerated the seizure & ransacking of foreign diplomatic representations -gross violations of the most basic diplomatic principles.

5/10 @XiyueWang9 says: My interrogators at Evin Prison made it clear that I was a pawn for prisoner exchange: “To get our brothers back, we will do anything!” He continues..

6/10 A notorious former judge once told me with relish that in order to bring back an Iranian agent detained in Armenia, an intelligence agency arrested an Armenian film crew shooting film in Iran, for a prisoner swap.

7/10 The intelligence arms of the IRGC and MOIS compete with each other for political capital through hostage-taking and prisoner swap deals. The case officers are rewarded with promotions and cash.

8/10 This backdrop is important to understanding Foreign Min Zarif’s latest call for further prisoner swaps. It is inconceivable that a regime that takes citizens of other counties hostage can be sincere in engaging in diplomacy with those countries. (Read this one twice!)

9/10 The perpetrators must be held responsible. US, EU, Britain, Canada & Australia, should ramp up targeted sanctions, forge a multilateral agreement against any state-sponsored hostage-taking, especially that of Iran.

10/10 They should require a precondition for any future political deal, to release all hostages and forswear hostage-taking in future. Nobody else should have to experience the ordeal I endured.