Middle East Panel

Guests: Steven Lobell, PhD, Political Science Professor at the University of Utah, Author of six books on International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies; Fred Axelgard, PhD, Senior Fellow in International Relations at the Wheatley institution at BYU; John Macfarlane, PhD, Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Utah Valley University  Our monthly panel of international affairs experts is back to consider the latest from the Middle East. Just as President Obama prepared to give his final State of the Union Address this week, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard captured 10 US sailors in the Persian Gulf. There were immediate fears of a tense hostage crisis, but Iran released the sailors within 24 hours. Secretary of State John Kerry said the quick resolution was thanks to newly-forged diplomatic ties between the US and Iran as they worked out a nuclear agreement.