There will undoubtedly be some observers who will take Iran's release of an American hiker held for more than a year on spying charges as a portent of rapprochement in the fraught U.S.-Iran relationship, but that would be unwise. Nothing is ever simple when it comes to the Islamic Republic, and the tug of war between different arms of the Iranian government that preceded Sarah Shourd's release on Tuesday reveals a level of chaos and political infighting inside the regime that could complicate future diplomatic efforts.
Shourd's two hiking companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, remain imprisoned in Tehran, and the Iranian authorities released her only on humanitarian grounds after a bail payment was made to a bank in Oman. (She is reported to be ill, and the Iranians have a history of releasing captives whose health is deteriorating, which diminishes whatever value the regime sees in holding them.) Still what was most notable about Shourd's release was the rebuke it involved for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the hands of his own judiciary.
