The Washington Post ran a story this week about one of its journalists, Jason Rezaian, who is currently being held hostage by the Iranian regime.The title is self-explanatory, "Jason Rezaian Trial in Iran May Be More About Leverage Than Justice."
In other words, the Iranians are using this American hostage to extract concessions from the Obama Administrations during its negotiations.
After all, using American hostages to blackmail the Obama Administration has (sadly and dangerously) proven to be a very successful strategy for terrorist groups and rogue regimes.
As The Post itself recognizes:
"Iran is certainly not the only country where incarcerated Americans have been viewed as negotiating leverage. North Korea has periodically seized United States citizens in recent years. In November, the North freed two American prisoners into the custody of the United States director of national intelligence after he flew there on a secret mission to secure their release.
In December, the United States secured Cuba’s release of Alan Gross, a subcontractor for the United States Agency for International Development, who had been held for five years and convicted of crimes against the state. Mr. Gross’s release was part of a move by both countries to restore full diplomatic relations and exchange prisoners, among them an American spy and three Cuban spies."
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