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The 2017 presidential election in Iran was a nasty one. Mr. Rouhani and his primary opponent, Ebrahim Raisi, hurled accusations against each other about their roles in a notorious 1988 massacre of political dissidents that had been a taboo subject for members of the ruling elite. Both Mr. Rouhani and Mr. Raisi are positioning themselves for the day that the 78-year-old Mr. Khamenei, who has had cancer, dies.

Like several Americans arrested since 2012, Mr. Wang walked into this buzz saw.

But its not just internal score-settling that led to Mr. Wangs imprisonment. The supreme leader, the countrys national-security institutions and most of the ruling clergy, including those allied to Mr. Rouhani, really do believe that America is waging a cultural war against Irans Islamist order. And for Mr. Khamenei, a scholar like Mr. Wang, a journalist like the Iranian-American Jason Rezaian and a businessman like the Iranian-American Siamak Namazi are foot soldiers of a counterrevolution. Their arrests are meant to fortify spiritually the regimes supporters and terrify those who would challenge the basic tenets of the Islamic Republic, especially the most fundamental principle: continuing hostility against the United States.

A founding father of Irans feared ministry of intelligence, Mr. Rouhani has had a more relaxed attitude about the cultural war that Mr. Khamenei sees everywhere inside Iranian society. The president thinks greater freedom of expression and association are needed for economic growth. But he isnt intellectually laissez-faire: When university students protested against censorship in 1999, the cleric publicly threatened the youths with death. Indeed, there is an intellectual no-mans land between the two men, where hostage-taking can be seen by both as legitimate.

The United States has always been in a difficult spot in dealing with the clerical regimes propensity for hostage-taking. Doing nothing or paying ransom just invite more abuse. American citizens should think twice about visiting Iran. But allowing another nation to have open season on American citizens is outrageous. Washington has never tried serious punishment, like blistering sanctions against the countrys banking and energy sectors. Other factors the price of oil, the Europeans, dreams of engagement, nuclear diplomacy always seem to get in the way. Nor has the United States had the stomach to play rough with the Revolutionary Guards: they take our citizens and yet we dont send Delta Force to nab their senior commanders operating abroad.

Mr. Wangs arrest certainly signals the need for a different approach. Fearfully maintaining an arms-control agreement that through sunset clauses guarantees the Islamic Republic an industrial-size uranium enrichment program isnt how to do it. Economically or militarily, the United States needs to scare Irans ruling class, convince it that hostage-taking carries an unbearable price. But it seems increasingly clear that President Trump will not intimidate the mullahs.

Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Middle Eastern specialist in the Central Intelligence Agencys clandestine service, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

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