The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is planning to build a statue of the U.S. sailors who were captured in Iranian waters in January. The bravado of this proposal will likely cause outrage in the United States, especially in the GOP ranks where Republicans oppose Obama’s Iran nuclear deal.
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Head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s naval forces, commander Ali Fadavi, said the statue of the surrendering U.S. sailors would be a “tourist attraction.” Fadavi said,
“There are very many photographs of the major incident of arresting US Marines in the Persian Gulf in the media and we intend to build a symbol out of them inside one of our naval monuments.”
Iran’s capture of 10 U.S. sailors in January was praised as a victory over the United States by hardliners in Tehran and was a testament that regardless of the nuclear deal, Iran was still resisting the U.S. and even going so far as to have a medal ceremony by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who called the capture of the sailors “God’s deed.”
‘The sailors were held at gunpoint and paraded before the cameras but released after a day following phone calls between John Kerry, the [U.S. Secretary of State, and Javad Zarif, the [Iranian Foreign Minister.]’
The Obama administration, initially angered over the incident, stated later that the swift release of these sailors shows that communication is improving between the two countries. This position by the White House garnered heavy criticism by the GOP and accused Obama of being weak with Iran, especially so over the 10 U.S. sailors who were paraded around Iranian state ran media and exploited for propaganda use.
The statue is in line with the rest of Iran’s outrageous behavior when earlier in the month, it test fired two ballistic missiles with “Israel must be wiped out” written on the sides in Hebrew and while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel.
‘The statue is likely to be built on Kharg, a small Iranian island in the Persian Gulf not far from where the sailors were captured. The monument could feature as a stop for travelers on the Rahian-e-Nour, a semi-mandatory pro-regime pilgrimage that takes visitors to historical spots from the Iran-Iraq war and extols the virtues of the Iranian military.’
Item of note, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, oversees the Guard, not the elected Iranian president.
What do you think the U.S. should do to Iran, if anything, over this blatant exploitation of 10 U.S. sailors? Sound off in the comments below
