Iran imprisoned 7 people they suspected to be working alongside Israel in the destruction of Iranian property, kidnapping, and theft. Iran believes that the “operatives” were receiving instructions from an Israelite located in Sweden. All individuals were believed to have previous legal issues, most notably, who they believed to be the ringleader, was arrested for attempting to traffic humans from Turkey to Greece. Four of the individuals were hanged, while the other three were given sentences from 5-10 years for being in aid of the crime against national security. Because Iran and Israel have always had a tense relationship, Iran has, in the past, imprisoned foreign operatives that work for countries allied with Israel. For example, the United States.
While not a groundbreaking story that deals with crippling inter state relations, the story does show that even small things between states have the potential to escalate too much bigger issues. It would seem to me that amid the ongoing protests against the country’s Morality Police, the government is tightening its grip and possibly swinging to the side of destructive caution. For example, in the article, it briefly mentions how Iran believes that the Morality Police protests are mostly occurring due to the perceived over exaggeration of the Morality Police’s brutality by western media. And in recent history, Iran’s and the US’s relations are anything but stable considering our withdrawal from the nuclear deal. So the execution of 4 criminals who they believe to be receiving information from Israel seems like a demonstration to Israel and their Western allies that Iran is not going to be compromising anymore.
To relate back to class, we watched Anthony Bourdain’s, Parts Unknown, episode on Iran. It was clear in the episode that the Iranian people are a very friendly people to strangers, for the most part. They mentioned in the episode that there was a split in the Iranian people, those who wanted Iran to continue to be defensive and deadly to the west and east, and those that wished for Iran to just be a peace loving country. The episode showed that the peace loving people were in direct opposition to their governments views on international and domestic policy, a dangerous thing to publicly disclose in a country with a government like Iran’s.