Beberapa pengulas mengatakan Pengawal Revolusi yang menahan ke-15 warganegara Inggris mungkin sebagian telah bertindak untuk mengirim pesan bahwa Iran takkan berpangku tangan sementara warganegaranya ditahan di Irak.
Some analysts say the Revolutionary Guards who seized the 15 Britons may have been acting partly to send a message that Iran would not sit idle while its citizens were detained in Iraq.