On Saturday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson left no doubt as to how the Swedish EU official Johan Floderus and Swedish citizen Saeed Azizi were released from Iranian custody: “Iran has made both of them pawns in a cynical negotiating game with the aim of securing the release of Iranian citizen Hamid Nouri from Swedish prison.” Tehran has thus used hostage diplomacy to force the release of a criminal sentenced to life imprisonment.