A Guest in Chains

Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal was one of 57 Western reporters invited to visit Iran last week as a guest of the government. When their visas expired 56 of those journalists were told to leave the country. Seib was detained. First his passport was confiscated for reasons that remain unclear. Then it was announced that Seib, a respected American newsman based in Cairo, had been arrested. Tehran radio has called Seib a “spy for the Zionist regime who entered Iran disguised as a journalist.” A small news agency, in a report from Tehran, says that Seib is accused of collecting sensitive military information.

America has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since its embassy was invaded and its diplomats were made captive in late 1979. It relies on the Swiss embassy in Tehran to represent U.S. interests. Swiss diplomats have not been allowed to see Seib. There is thus, for now, no authoritative information about Seib’s status. The White House, protesting his detention, suggests that it may be a case of mistaken identity. This approach offers Iran a way to release Seib without losing face.

Whether Seib’s arrest was a manifestation of the power struggle going on in Iran or whether it reflects a consensual policy decision is unknown. What is clear is that Seib was a reporter doing a reporter’s job, in this instance seeing what officials chose to show him in a closely guided tour and asking the kind of questions that reporters ask. It is absurd to contend that these activities constituted spying for Israel, the United States or anyone else, and it is an outrage that an invited guest should be made a captive by his hosts. Each day that Seib is detained offers further proof of Iran’s scorn for civilized norms of behavior.