Please, please, please.  Do not pay ranson for hostages, and do not exchange prisoners for hostage.  Simply tell Iran we’re not doing anything until they release U.S. hostages and forswear taking any others.  This is not rocket science.  The President, Secretary, NSA, and others need to do this to break the hostage cycle.  And if Iran won’t change, I’m reminded of the Barbary Pirates and the brave response by Dem. Pres. Thomas Jefferson.  “US denies Iran claims of prisoner deal; UK plays it down,” Jon Gambrell, Isabel Debre, and Matthew Lee, AP, May 2, 2021.

Follow the example of the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which required human rights observance and helped bring about the Soviet collapse.  “The U.S. Can Support Freedom’s Ferment in Iran,” Ray Takeyh, op-ed, Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2021.

“Alert: Iran state TV, quoting anonymous official, says deal made between US and Tehran for prisoner swap, release of $7 billion,” Ridgefield Press, May 2, 2021.

“US denies report of Iran prisoner swap deal, release of $7B in frozen funds,” Peter Aitken, Fox News, May 2, 2021.

“UK says Iran’s treatment of Zaghari-Ratcliffe is ‘torture’,” Arab News, May 2, 2021.

“[I]t was not in Moscow’s interests for Iran to normalize relations with the West.”  Another enabler.  See “Russia still steering Iran nuclear talks against US,” Eli Lake, op-ed, Bloomberg News May 2, 2021.

“Follow the example of the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which helped bring about the Soviet collapse.”  See “The U.S. Can Support Freedom’s Ferment in Iran,” Ray Takeyh, op-ed, Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2021.

“Huge blaze reported at Iranian chemical factory near Qom; cause unclear,” Times of Israel, May 2, 2021.