Storming of British Embassy in Tehran Raises Specter of Second Iranian Hostage Crisis (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | The meme of Barack Obama as the second coming of Jimmy Carter is almost complete. With the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran by Iranian "students," a second Iranian hostage crisis almost came upon the world, according to CNN.

The embassy has been reported to have been cleared of the demonstrators, who trashed the place, hauled down the Union Jack and raised the Iranian flag. If the protestors had thought to spark a second hostage crisis, they have apparently thought the better of it. British diplomats, briefly seized, have been released, Reuters reports.

In any case, the point has been made. Since there is no American embassy in Tehran for obvious reasons, the message of Iranian ire against stepped up sanctions has been delivered to Great Britain. The Iranians can seize British diplomats at any time and will do so at their convenience.

Besides sending a message to the West on the seriousness of the Iranian government in its quest to build nuclear weapons, the storming of the British embassy has served as a means to whip up domestic support for the theocracy. A recent explosion at an Iranian nuclear facility in Isfahan has been blamed on the Mossad, but may well have been undertaken by Iranian dissidents, according to Hot Air.

If the Iranians can focus the attention of its people on a foreign enemy, it would go a ways to tamping down on internal dissent. It is an age old tactic undertaking by tyrants and it has worked many times before.

Iran is gambling that neither Great Britain nor the United States has the stomach to react to the violation of the British embassy with anything but impotent words. Certainly Great Britain alone lacks the military strength to retaliate. The United States, under President Obama, has lacked the will.

On the other hand, Iran may miscalculate once too often. Despite a tendency to appease the enemies of the United States rhetorically, President Obama is capable of striking at the enemies of the United States with great ferocity. The shades of Osama bin Laden and Moammar Gadhafi can attest to that. The British could lend aid to an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities.

In other words, the mullahs may live to regret what happened at the British embassy.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111129/us_ac/10555537_storming_of_british_embassy_in_tehran_raises_specter_of_second_iranian_hostage_crisis

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