Tensions Between the United States and Iran Escalating

Two very recent developments between Iran and the United States have taken tensions up a notch or two, and you may or may not be surprised about who within the United States Senate has called for a military strike against Iran at the same time.

Iran has detained a fourth Iranian-American, a peace activist from California, which has been confirmed by Iran's foreign ministry says that Ali Shakeri is indeed being held. It is unclear at this point if Shakeri is being accused of any actual wrongdoing, but the three other Iranian Americans being detained, Haleh Esfandiari, Kian Tajbakhsh and Parnaz Azima are accused of endangering Iran's national security and espionage. All three were in Iran either working or visiting family. President Bush has issued a demand to Iran for the "immediate and unconditional" release and added that the detainees were not spying for the United States.

At the same time, the United States continues to detain five Iranian officials in the Iraqi city of Irbil taken into custody by U.S. troops in January. The U.S. military continues to stand by their claim that the Iranian detainees in their custody have links to a network that is supplying arms to Iraqi insurgents, which of course is denied by Iran.

So where does this leave things between the United States and Iran? This sort of "he said, she said" posturing is commonly used as a smokescreen for a bigger issue, and perhaps the the assertion made by Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut might be a part of the bigger picture.

Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic candidate for vice president who now serves Connecticut as an Independent has called for a military strike against Iran because of their involvement in Iraq. Could this call be an extension of what the United States has said they already believe, and is it also possible Iran sees their detainees as "bargaining" chips to ward off a possible military strike? Hard to say for sure because both sides are being very guarded in most public statements, but Lieberman's statements are very specific as to how and why.