ANALYSIS – In 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran and  held the Americans hostage. The crisis ended with the passing of one president to the next. Jimmy Carter was perceived to be weak by the Republicans which is why the new president was anything but.  Ronald Reagan was a strong front man for American interests and the door was shut on Tehran until last year. Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran is a watershed in international relations which is why Tehran’s actions in publishing pictures of surrendering American sailors is so astonishing. At a stroke they could have ruined years of dialogue and behind the scenes negotiations – not now but at the inauguration of the next President, if that may turn out to be a Republican. For those pictures of surrendering American sailors are perceived by some as humiliating and that may mean one thing – a fiercely nationalistic backlash from a leader keen to show that this is still a strong nation.