I just saw on TV a woman whose husband was arrested in Iran and held as a spy pleading for the President to free him. It was announced that the husband was there studying something about the Persian culture for his doctoral studies.
Let's be clear. It is near-universally known that Iran views essentially all Americans there as spies, and they may be right about some. What I don't understand is why the U.S. government should jump through hoops trying to extract people who were too stupid to avoid going there.
We should announce a policy of "anybody ill-advised enough to enter Iran without a diplomatic passport is on their own" and mean it. The thoroughly impractical alternative is to flood the country with thousands of oblivious tourists so that detaining any significant percentage of them will bankrupt Iran.
