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The capture, and then release, of the British military personnel is evidence that sanctions are working and that Iran's leaders do not have full control over the nation's foreign policy. Fareed Zakaria wrote an excellent piece about this in the April 16 issue of Newsweek.

Late last month, the U.N. Security Council, in order to get Iran to stop its nuclear program, passed a resolution tightening sanctions on the regime. It was backed by some of Iran's closes allies, including Russia, China, South Africa and Indonesia.

The sanctions targeted the Tehran regime specifically, not the population as a whole. It included financial measures that hit the ruling elite in their pocket books (bank accounts).

Last December, U.S. forces captured five Iranians in Iraq, who they accused of aiding local insurgents. More recently, Russia temporarily suspended shipments of nuclear fuel to Iran.

Iran captured the British sailors and marines as a way to "push back," Zakaria wrote, and it seems to have been a move supported by the regime's hardliners. Those who actually grabbed the Brits were the Revolutionary Guards, a group closely linked to the hardliners.

They may have done this to stymie efforts by Iran's moderates to begin negotiations with its international critics - something the regime is more inclined to do now that they're feeling the pinch from the sanctions.

"Whatever the internal politics, Iran appears to have miscalculated," Zakaria wrote. "Its actions will only confirm to many key countries that it is a reckless and untrustworthy state."

Learn more about this author, Les Jacobs.
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