In a New York Post article today Amir Taheri tells us that border incidents such as the one where Iranian guardsmen recently captured 15 British sailors are common in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, but rarely lead to any action being taken by either Iraq or Iran when a vessel crosses what is a disputed territorial marker. Taheri and many others believe this event was deliberately orchestrated by Tehran to give it leverage to solve other problems. As Taheri puts it, "when in doubt, take hostages." He notes that Iran has been involved in the taking of at least 1,000 hostages since the founding of the Islamic Republic. Read the article .