It’s still unclear who was behind the seizure. Were Revolutionary Guard zealots acting on their own, forcing Tehran to back them up? Or was the detention ordered from on high, possibly by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who warned only two days before the seizure that if Americans and Europeans “take illegal actions, we too can take illegal actions and will do so”? A retired Iranian diplomat, anonymous because the matter is sensitive, says Washington and London should realize how much “freelancing” goes on inside Iran. Extremists may be looking for payback for the detentions of Tehran operatives and officials, allegedly with U.S. approval, inside Iraq, and the disappearance of a former Guard general. “It usually happens like this: one small group does something and then it’s the whole system that has to clean up after them,” the diplomat says. Blair declares that he won’t negotiate, and Iran is resisting U.N. pressure, so the standoff may drag on—or, worse, escalate.
