'Hostage diplomacy': longstanding Iran tactic presenting dilemma for West

“Iran has pursued hostage diplomacy since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979,” said Jason Brodsky, policy director of US-based think tank United Against Nuclear Iran. “It uses hostages as pawns to extract concessions that it could not otherwise achieve from the United States and its allies,” he added. The Islamic republic denies it has any strategy of hostage taking and all foreigners jailed are convicted after due legal process. Such concessions include unfreezing assets or the release of Iranian nationals convicted in the United States, Europe and elsewhere on charges such as sanctions violations, assassination plots, or terrorism, he said.