A Real Iran Crisis Story Behind 'The Diplomat'
In 2007 a US Navy admiral plotted to create a military clash with Iran
The Diplomat, the military crisis-cum-rom/com series now winning popular, if not critical, plaudits on Netflix, is bolted to a plot line featuring a U.S. ambassador to London’s desperate attempt to head off a war with Iran following a mysterious attack on a British aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.
Played by Keri Russell, straight from her triumphal role as an undercover Soviet spy in The Americans, Ambassador Kate Wyler is a Middle East expert who smells political machinations behind the urges of the British P.M. and the American president to attack Iran.
As it turns out, there was a real life plot by high-ranking American admirals in 2007 to provoke Iran into a military confrontation. And that plot was derailed by an equally winsome political adviser to the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, Gwenyth Todd, who persuaded top State Department officials, who had been kept in the dark, to intervene.
“To Todd, it was like something straight out of “Seven Days in May,” the 1964 political thriller about a right-wing U.S. military coup,” I wrote in the August 21, 2012 edition of The Washington Post Sunday Magazine.
The nearly 5,000 word piece failed to get much traction, almost certainly because key State Department officials involved in stopping the plot refused to go on the record. The admiral involved also dismissed my findings. But it’s worth revisiting today, I think, amid rising voices for a military showdown with China in the South China Sea, not to mention escalation with Russia over Ukraine. You be the judge. ###
We have a very rare opportunity to "cut a deal" to preserve peace and prosperity for all in the future. We just have to do it and end the active wars. It can be done. but belligerent moods can also be used to make it work. It helps some people to see both paths before they choose. Do chose cooperation.
Thank you, thank you for the article.
It is all the more relevant based on events of the past week or so.
First a US Navy vessel seized an oil tanker carrying Iranian oil in the Straits of Hormuz (this was not well publicized in the western media but sent to my inbox from a commodity trading concern dedicated to making its clients money and providing what is happening in the world).
Then, a 'tit for tat'. The Iranian's seized an oil tanker in the Straits... which the western press fell over itself telling the populace... but kindly forgetting about the US being the first actor on stage.
Now the western press screams of another Iranian seizure of an oil tanker, this time an empty one.
Your recommended article is highlighting another area where activity is afoot and more so after the Chinese brokering of Peace between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Thanks again