The Roxana Saberi Diplomacy

The case of Roxana Saberi has dominated international news during the past week. After being arrested for purchasing a bottle of wine in January this year, Roxana Saberi has been charged for spying by Iran and sentenced for eight years imprisonment. Saberi’s fate is being viewed as determining the future course of U.S. - Iranian relations. Critics of President Obama’s goodwill policy have raised Saberi’s issue as a vindication of the previous aggressive and non-conciliatory policy vis-à-vis Iran. While President Obama is gravely concerned about the safety of Saberi, he has continued to assert the value of diplomacy in resolving the issue and the Administration has not issued any threatening statements.
The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has personally intervened in the matter and asked the chief prosecutor to ensure that Saberi is provided with full rights to defend herself, including a fair trial. The Iranian Judiciary has been quick to respond to the President’s appeal by expressing willingness for a careful, quick and fair consideration of an appeal against the earlier court ruling. Saberi’s lawyer has twenty days to file an appeal. So the issue will dominate media headlines and official discussions in the days ahead.
Is the Saberi issue a diplomatic challenge or a diplomatic illusion? Is Saberi being used as a smokescreen by President Obama and President Ahmadinejad to initiate diplomatic measures opposed by neo-cons and hardliners in the U.S. and Iran? The unfolding of the diplomatic and political drama indicates that this contention could be possible. 
Saberi had been conducting her research in Iran without a valid press card and given the suspicious nature of U.S. –Iranian relations, it was expected that the Iranian authorities would put her under the scanner. The U.S. can be expected to detain a journalist from a Muslim nation, if the concerned individual operates without valid authorization. Thus Iran has a strong case for defending its action. By putting Saberi to trail and then subsequently allowing her to appeal, Iran is expecting to secure a diplomatic advantage. First, Iran is demonstrating that its government upholds basic civil liberties and hence has a functioning democracy. Second, credible reconsideration of Saberi’s case can be used to counter the charge of uncompromising and aggressive diplomacy allegedly practiced by the Iranian Government. After promising to put forth a new nuclear plan, President Ahmadnijad is defending Iran’s democratic credentials and diplomatic flexibility.
Saberi’s eight year sentence could be a mere ploy by President Ahmadinejad to unduly hype a simple case to gain diplomatic advantage out of it. There is every possibility that Saberi’s sentenced will be reduced and she will be charged for operating without proper authorization. The entire diplomatic circus will then be used to project President Ahmadinejad’s statesmanlike approach; he could be accredited with befittingly responding to President Obama’s goodwill gestures. President Ahmadinejad’s likening populist diplomacy has been demonstrated earlier when he had written separate letters to President Bush and the American people justifying Iran’s policy in the most appealing and eloquent manner.
President Obama’s policy of talking to Iran will be bolstered if Saberi’s sentence is reduced. And as stated above, there is a high possibility that charges of espionage against Saberi will be dropped. In the coming days there will much discussion on the fact that the U.S. – Iranian communication on the issue is being hampered by the absence of official diplomatic relations among the two countries. The U.S. – Iranian conversations in Tehran are conducted through the U.S. interests section of the Swiss Embassy. The issue could possibly be used by both Presidents to push the case for initiating limited diplomatic presence in each country.
Much of this can be brushed aside as crystal-ball gazing, but it needs to be understood the most crucial acts of international diplomacy are played behind closed doors and only a miniscule part of it is divulged for popular circulation. U.S. diplomacy has been one the strongest pillars of the nation’s foreign policy; President Bush used it to distort facts and rationalize aggressive policies while President Obama is using it to sugar-coat hard choices for reviving American leadership. The Saberi diplomacy will perhaps not be referred to a redefining moment for U.S. – Iranian relations but would certainly allow President Obama and President Ahmadnijad take the initial steps towards re-defining mutual relations.