The going rate for an American hostage these days is around $1.3 billion. That’s what the Biden administration functionally paid out for five Americans in a prisoner swap with the Islamic Republic of Iran this week. And with little overhead, it’s mostly profit for the mullahs.
But don’t let the term “prisoner swap” insinuate any moral equivalence. These are not two normal countries trading spies or combatants. No, this is just an old-fashioned extortion.
The Iranians released political hostages, snatched off the streets of Tehran after unwisely returning to visit family or attending funerals or protests. Many of them were reportedly thrown into the notorious Evin prison for the crime of having dual citizenship. Some, like Siamak Namazi, were put in solitary confinement for over two years.
Conversely, the United States released a bunch of spies, most of them caught trying to send military and nuclear equipment back to Iran — all of them given the benefit of due process.
The moral imperative to retrieve American citizens from these fascist regimes is admirable. Incentivizing more kidnappings is not. So, it’s one thing for the Biden administration to contend, “we did what he had to do” and quite another for them to celebrate as if they had just signed the Peace of Westphalia.
Yesterday, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted out a triumphant picture of the Biden team and the released hostages, writing “seven Americans on their way home from Iran alongside a world class group of
