It seems the Iranian kidnapping of British Sailors and Marines is supposed to be a response to the fact we have captured a lot of high level Quds personnel in Iraq, and it seems there may be a sea of defectors to boot. First I noticed this story based on high level sources in Iran tying the kidnapping (an act of war) to the highest levels of Iranian government:

A military source close to the command of the Iranian Al-Quds Brigade revealed to Asharq al-Awsat the motives behind detaining 15 British sailors in Shatt al-Arab on Friday. He said the decision to take in the British military elements was taken at an emergency meeting of the Higher Defense Council in the light of a report received by Brigadier Qasim Sulaymani, the commander of Al-Quds Brigade, and communicated on 18 March to General Hasan Fayruz Abadi, the armed forces Chief-of-staff.

Asharq al-Awsat learns that the report contained a warning that the operations undertaken by Al-Quds Brigade and the Revolutionary Guards have become exposed to American and British military intelligence after the arrest by American forces of Brigadier Tayshizri, the commander of Al-Quds Brigade operations in Iraq, and his assistant, Brigadier Qayim, and three of their aides in Irbil, and the subsequent abduction of Jalal Sharafi, the representative of the Intelligence Ministry at the Iranian diplomatic mission in Baghdad, in addition to the disappearance of Colonel Amir Muhammad Hussein Shirazi in Turkey. Sources said he has defected but Iran says he was kidnapped. He is one of the most important intelligence officers in Al-Quds Brigade in Iraq.

Personally I like this kind of pressure on Iran. And no amount of PR will hide the fact that Iranians are being captured in Iraq, and the Iranians kidnapped the Brits in Iraqi waters. OK, Alan Colmes and other liberals will not see the distinction, but the 80% of the country which is not liberal gets it. Then I noticed this report which seems to indicate many of those ‘captured’ are in fact defectors :

Iranian sources said the IRGC abducted British sailors in Shatt Al Arab on March 23 to retaliate for the defection of senior Iranian officials and officers. They said IRGC has blamed Britain and the United States for the defections of senior members of the Quds Brigade.

“IRGC has been fuming over the recent defections and has been looking for ways to respond,” an Iranian source said.

Note all the plural used. Not one defector but ‘defections’, ‘officials’, ‘officers’. It is interesting that the Iranian General who made it to Turkey was able to meet up with his family in Europe> What a nice abduction there by the West. They got the whole darn family!

Also interesting is the US media angle, which seems to focus on ‘the pressure’ being placed on the Quds and Revolutionary Guard:

he Bush administration is using the nuclear standoff with Iran to target the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, accused by the United States of backing extremists in the Middle East, carrying out terror attacks and arming Iraqi militia groups.

…

The sanctions included freezing the foreign assets of seven top Guards officers and calling on U.N. members to restrict the officers’ international travel. The resolution also forbids Iran from exporting weapons, a major source of income for the Revolutionary Guards.

…

In Iraq, U.S. troops have detained more than a dozen Iranians, including members of the Guards’ elite Quds Force, in two recent raids. Five are still being held.

No word how these elite troops found their way far into Iraq. What seems to be happening is maybe the Mullahs are losing control of the Quds. Read this description of the Quds in the last article:

The Guards are the dominant military and security force in Iran. They protect its hard-line Islamic government from dissent at home while spreading Iranian influence abroad by providing weapons, training and money to groups including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, both of which are considered terrorist organizations by the United States.

If they provide the protection and security then they may hold the keys of power in Iran. The Mullahs and that puppet Ahemdinejad may just be the actors working the world stage for some real power brokers behind the scenes. Everyone knows kidnapping the Brits is only going to make things worse on Iran. The UK cannot release the Quds or return defectors. So what is this about? Is it simple lashing out by the Quds? Is it possible they are making a play on both the Iranian puppets and the West to show who is in charge? Who knows, but the move is so stupid and counterproductive it would seem something more vengeful, something based on vitriol and anger, is at play. If the call was made at the highest levels of the Quds, then maybe there is a real schism showing up in Iran.

All useless and wishful speculation. But I think there is more to this story than meets the eye.