Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) argued President Obama didn’t address the US sailors being held by Iran because he chose to talk about “issues that will impact this country for decades to come” like income inequality in an interview on NBC after Tuesday’s State of the Union.

Sanders was asked, “the president didn’t mention the situation right now with the American sailors being held in Iran. Are you surprised that he didn’t make reference to that tonight?”

He answered, “Well, I hope, my understanding, I could be wrong on this, that this problem is going to be resolved in a few hours. And I think what the president is talking about are issues that will impact this country for decades to come, issues of income and wealth inequality, about how we revitalize American democracy, how we make sure that all of our kids can get a good, higher education at a cost they can afford. Those are issues we’re going to have to be dealing with for decades.”

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