Politics

The Pentagon have said that up to 10 US Navy sailors are being detained after a vessel broke down and drifted into Iranian territorial waters. The boats are in Iranian custody and Iran has said the crew will be returned “promptly”. A Pentagon spokesman told the Associated Press they lost contact with the vessels as they moved through the Gulf between Kuwait and Bahrain. “We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly,” the  spokesman Peter Cook told AP.

Tensions were already running high between Tehran and Washington in the wake of Iran's move to test-fire a next generation surface-to-surface ballistic missile with the range to hit Israel. 

And then the IRGC conducted a live-fire rocket test within 1,500 yards of a US aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Now, in a further escalation, Iran has reportedly seized two US Navy ships. 

Tonight President Obama will deliver his last State of the Union address at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Since this will be the last one of these speeches that he gives, Obama will presumably spend a fair amount of time talking about what he considers his legacy accomplishments. This is one of Obama’s last opportunities to define how he wants his presidency to be remembered, and I suspect that will take precedence over trying to outline an agenda for the coming year.

Last year, we noted with some incredulity that when it comes to US foreign policy in the Mid-East, someone inside the Beltway actually "gets it".

That someone is Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard who knows something about the region thanks to the fact that she served in the Middle East - twice. Now, she’s sponsoring a bipartisan bill to stop what she calls an “illegal” war against the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHkher6ceaA

It’s not necessarily that Gabbard is a fan of Assad.

Noah Rothman wonders if the Rubio campaign should start panicking:

While they are banking that a few third and second place finishes in February can position their candidate well ahead of the March primaries, the damage that will be done to Rubio’s brand if he fails to win at least one of the February contests will be palpable.