News / Interviews

US looking for pretext not to lift Iran bans: Commentator

Wednesday, 13 January 2016 6:01 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 13 January 2016 6:01 PM ]

A handout picture released on January 13, 2016, by the news website and public relations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Sepah News, shows US sailors under detention in the Farsi Island.

Press TV has interviewed Ryan Dawson, a commentator and human rights activist in Nara, Japan, to discuss the release of the ten US Marines who had trespassed on Iran’s territorial waters and had been taken into Iranian custody.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Please give us your thoughts on how events transpired today.

Dawson: I am glad cooler heads prevailed because people are making a lot more of this than they should have. As for the navigation screwing up, I imagine that is probably just a story they invented as a way of saving face and allowing them to release these sailors. We had an incident before in 2008 in Strait of Hormuz which was almost exactly eight years ago, it was in January, from January 6 to January 12 where there were US warships in the Strait of Hormuz and this was right before the Republican debates at that time just as it is now, so it is a way of forcing this issue on the table.

Iran is only one week away from having sanctions lifted on a hundred billion dollars worth of assets and they do not want to risk anything that could jeopardize that. The Americans on the other hand are looking for any pretext they can to not have to lift the sanctions.

Press TV: As you mentioned cooler heads have prevailed. Give us your thoughts on the comments made by Commander of Iran’s IRGC Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi and also the conduct of the IRGC in this regard.

Dawson: They did everything correct. They said they inspected the vehicles and that they bought the story that the Americans were innocently in the waters unknowingly and that might be true, I have my doubts about that given that as much money as the Americans spend on their naval vessels, it would be very embarrassing if their navigation system simply did not work and they did not know where they were, especially in such a territory where they have to have such accuracy because that could cause an international incident.

But whether it was to save face or even if it was true, so be it, the admiral did the correct action and made something that could have been an international disaster, go over very smoothly by releasing the Americans and allowing them to save face.

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