Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, was in New York City yesterday and even held a press conference, but he managed to get through it without anyone asking him if he intended to extradite to Argentina five Iranian officials, along with the Lebanese terror mastermind Imad Mugniyah, so they can stand trial for their alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 86 were killed.

I would have asked the question myself if had been allowed to. Though the 1994 bombing has faded from the headlines, a question about it would have helped to illuminate Iran’s thinking about the place of terrorism in its diplomacy.

As demonstrated by the kidnapping of 15 British seamen last week — on the eve of a U.N. Security Council vote on new sanctions on Iran — the mullahs obviously believe terror can enhance an image they have cultivated of their country as a peace-seeking regional power.

Mr. Mottaki, a relaxed and smiling bearded official, fielded questions at ease. At first he answered through interpreters, and then directly, in surprisingly good English, as my British colleagues attempted to determine the fate of the Royal Marines. The kidnapped Britons, Mr. Mottaki said, will be charged, because they “illegally entered into Iranian waters.”

This is “simply not true,” Prime Minister Blair said yesterday, denying his troops were in Iranian territorial waters. The clash raises the prospect, however remote, that for all the talk of Israel or America taking the lead in countering Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the task might fall to the lame-duck Labor Party prime minister in London who boldly joined the war on Islamic terror in Iraq despite domestic opposition.

At his Manhattan hotel press conference, Mr. Mottaki declined to detail the GPS coordinates of the Britons at the time of their seizure Friday at gunpoint by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard units. But he said this was “not the first time” that Iranian territory had been violated by Britain.

Also, prodded by a friendly questioner, Mr. Mottaki complained about five Iranian officials seized by America several months ago in the northern Iraqi Kurdish town of Irbil. Although he did not refer to the disappearance in Turkey of the Iranian intelligence veteran Ali Askari, it would have been interesting to gauge his concern about the possibility of mass defections by other Iranian insiders to the West in the future.

Mr. Mottaki’s protestations about “illegal” Security Council acts and the “legitimate” nature of Iran’s nuclear program carried the air of scholarly debate. But look under the respectable veneer, and you could also hear the language of the Tony Soprano thug.

“Britain should not think it can safely sit in closed Security Council rooms and author illegal resolutions,” the same Mr. Mottaki said in a Tehran speech Wednesday, as was translated by Israel Radio’s Farsi broadcaster Menashe Amir. The implied threat preceded the kidnapping of the 15 Royal Marines by two days.

And Mr. Mottaki was correct yesterday: This is not the first time. In 2004, Iran similarly kidnapped eight British seamen, only to release them quietly after three days. The equipment seized was proudly displayed by Iran and used for bragging rights. A documentary film on the 2004 kidnapping is frequently screened to Revolutionary Guards as an educational and motivational tool.

Mr. Mottaki yesterday described at length the perceived injustice dealt to Iran by the Security Council during the eight-year 1980s Iran-Iraq War. In Lebanon at that time, Iranian proxies kidnapped anyone Western enough to negotiate over. Deals were then made for the release of hostages in return for Western supplies of weapons to Iran.

That pattern is still in use today. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah famously kidnapped Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev last summer, launching a war with Israel. Rather than negotiating, Hezbollah so far has demanded a huge price in return for any sign that the two soldiers are alive. While Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Syrian-backed terrorists in Gaza, is known to be alive, his fate too is being used as a cruel bargaining chip in Palestinian Arab “peace process” diplomacy.

The resolution passed by the Security Council on Saturday may lead to further internal questioning in Iran of the wisdom of the path taken by Mr. Mottaki’s regime – which may explain why he resorted to the language of veiled threats against London. For Iran, terrorism has always served as a diplomatic tool.

To sharpen that tool, Hezbollah was created in the 1980s by Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanese-born Mr. Mugniyah. Now Mr. Mugniyah and his handlers in Iran are wanted by Interpol and Argentina.

Will Tehran turn them over? The Iranian U.N. diplomat who declined to give his name to reporters even though he ran yesterday’s press conference — and who must have overlooked my repeatedly raised hand — can find me easily if he or his boss wish to answer.