No doubt had the Islamic Republic jailed Richard Perle in one of its most notorious prisons, foreign policy realists in Washington would be clucking their tongues: "See, we told you — don't even whisper 'regime change' around the Iranians. They'll only play fair if you agree to meet them on their own terms."
Haleh Esfandiari might have counted herself a member of that chorus had she not been the one tossed into Evin prison on May 8 for being an "American-Zionist spy." Esfandiari, an American citizen with Persian lineage and an aged mother she was visiting in Tehran, works for the Wilson Center, which is headed by Rep. Lee Hamilton, co-author of the Iraq Study Group Report, which advocated, inter alia, that U.S. negotiate with Iran for the purposes of stabilizing Iraq. Doesn't Ayatollah Khamanei read Foreign Affairs? Surely it's a cry for diplomacy to subvert every attempt at carving out a civilized, democratic society in Iraq, and to suborn even sectarian enemies to do so.
Reuel Marc Gerecht, who studied under Esfandiari and her husband, explains in the New York Times:
It is undoubtedly the Hamilton connection and her marriage with an Iranian-born Jew — a sin under Islamic law for a Muslim woman — that made Mrs. Esfandiari such an irresistible target for a regime fond of taking hostages to intimidate its enemies.
The clerical regime doesn’t play fair: A 67-year-old woman who has over the years shown Iran’s representatives in the United States and other visiting Iranians, including esteemed clerics, the utmost kindness and respect is a perfect target to show the regime’s distaste for Iranians who want to build bridges.
[…]Mrs. Esfandiari’s arrest is what you could call “clerical engagement”: Iranians and Americans are meant to (re)learn that the ruling clergy exclusively defines the terms of engagement. “Mutual interest,” something Mr. Hamilton repeatedly insists the United States and clerical Iran share, isn’t a phrase I’ve seen used by Ali Khamenei, Iran’s virulently anti-American and anti-Semitic ultimate leader. Messrs. Hamilton and Baker raised the fearful (to the clerical regime) specter of an America eager to embrace the Islamic Republic. The mullahs, in a very personal, Iranian way, have replied.