![\"Iran](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Iran_Regime_Is_Jamming_GPS_Signals_in_Strait_of_Hormuz_to_Disrupt_Commercial_Shipping.jpg\")
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Four-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The clerical dictatorship is again doing to the world economy what it has done for decades to people, governments and entire societies: taking hostages. On March 24, 2026, the regime’s representatives told<\/a> the United Nations and the International Maritime Organization that only \u201cnon-hostile\u201d ships could use the Strait of Hormuz, and only in coordination with Iranian authorities. About one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas moves through that waterway. Reuters quoted the head of Kuwait Petroleum saying Iran was \u201cholding the world\u2019s economy hostage.\u201d That was not hyperbole. It was a description of method.<\/p>\n This was never a series of isolated detentions; it was a doctrine<\/a>. From the first days after 1979, Tehran learned to use hostage-taking as part of a wider strategy of survival: repress opposition at home, create leverage abroad, and turn every foreign government\u2019s concern for its own citizens into a source of political ransom. Over four decades, that system has targeted nationals of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Canada and others, while operating alongside a broader campaign of terrorism, intimidation, and proxy violence across several continents.<\/p>\n The pattern has been painfully consistent: arrests, manufactured charges, diplomatic pressure, and then concessions \u2014 money, prisoner releases, political accommodation, or silence. That, more than any single case, is the point. In Tehran\u2019s hands, hostage-taking is not a byproduct of crisis. It is a standing instrument of state policy, sustained for decades by the conviction that the West will eventually pay<\/a>, bend, or look away.<\/p>\n In light of Hamid Noury's release today, it's crucial to revisit the endless cycle of Western appeasement fueling #Iran<\/a>'s regime #terror<\/a> and hostage-taking. This loop, starting with Iranian dissidents, now ensnares Western officials and citizens.https:\/\/t.co\/ieaaOkZb6y<\/a><\/p>\n — NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 15, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n