Iran’s $6bn hostage deal is part of a broader diplomatic strategy

FEW IRANIAN acts outrage its enemies more than its taking of hostages. Foreigners are offered visas to visit Iran and are then seized on departure by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s strongest force. Iran then uses them as bargaining chips for prisoner swaps and cash, among other things. “The Islamic republic isn’t a banana republic, but…it still behaves like a mafia state,” says a Western diplomat, previously based in Iran.On September 18th Iran and America each exchanged five prisoners in a deal sweetened by America’s unfreezing of $6bn of Iranian funds—mainly payments for its oil—held in South Korea. The released hostages include Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman held since 2015, and Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian-American environmentalist who also holds British citizenship. But perhaps a dozen Westerners and several dozen more dual nationals remain behind bars as leverage for future deals. And on September 16th Iran arrested another dual national in Karaj, a city west of the capital, Tehran.