If the Iranian regime is trying to send Obama hints that it is not interested in a compromise over its nuclear program, the regime has found a new way to do so:

Three American teenagers were captured by Iranian forces earlier this year as they were hiking along the Iraq-Iran border. Iran accuses from of being spies, while the U.S. and their families refute the charge and claim they are nothing more than humanitarian workers.

Iran has now officially charged them as such and will hold a court hearing soon. If convicted, they could face years in jail if not life if not even death.

Are they really spies? I do not know and the U.S. media should not immediately take the U.S. government’s public pronouncement. These three young adults - not teenagers as I incorrectly stated - may very well be C.I.A. operatives. After all, why did they enter Iran through the Iraqi border without crossing any Iranian border crossings. The Americans simply found an emtpy part of the border and were only caught after getting into Iran without Iranian approval. Would not humanitarian workers land in Tehran and then make their way to their destination? There is no prohibition against Americans visiting Iran, especially for humanitarian purposes. If not spies - and the evidence makes it plausible that they are - they’re at the very least incredibly naive for thinking they could just sneak into Iran and then if caught they would not be in trouble. No nation treats individuals who cross its borders without permission nicely, let alone an tyrannical regime which refers to your country as “The Great Satan”. So if not spies then stupid.

The Iranian charges against Americans has played into the hands of American neo-con hawks who want nothing more than to portray Iran as a dangerous threat to American (read: Israel, their first nation of loyalty) and negotiations with it futile, thus the U.S. must bomb it to stop its nuclear program (finish sentence: on Israel’s behalf).

This is not true. Iran poses no threat to America. But Iran is not making the job of U.S. diplomats by charging Americans, supressing protestors, and in general adopting a hostile approach.

But this is all fitting with the regime’s desire to not be liked by the U.S. as a piece of graffiti on the former U.S. embassy (h/t Joe Klein) states: “On the day the Great Satan praises us, we shall mourn.”