University of Iowa student in Sydney safe in midst of hostage situation

As the world on Monday watched a hostage situation unfold in the heart of tourist-haven Sydney, Australia, officials with the University of Iowa's International Programs reached out to the only UI student currently studying abroad in the country's most populous city.

'She responded by email and said she's doing well and keeping an eye on things,” said Doug Lee, assistant provost for UI International Programs. 'She's not in danger. She wasn't in that area of town.”

With the fall semester coming to a close, the student is planning to return from Sydney within the week, Lee said. Another three UI students who were studying in other parts of Australia recently returned home, before Monday's hostage situation began, according to Lee.

'Spring semester will be much busier, with 23 students studying there,” he said.

Of that total, two will be in Sydney, where a lone suspect on Monday morning - Australia time - entered the Lindt Chocolat Café in Sydney's financial district and took at least 17 hostages, according to Reuters News Agency.

After 16 hours, the siege ended with Australian police storming the business where hostages were being held at gunpoint, according to Reuters. Local authorities said three people were killed, including the attacker, and four people were wounded, the news agency reported.

The suspect was identified as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and self-styled sheik who was facing charges of sexual assault and accessory to murder. Australian authorities advised the U.S. government that they don't believe Monis was connected to known terrorist organizations, according to Reuters, even though hostages were forced to display an Islamic flag during the siege.

The idea of individuals acting alone but ideologically alongside groups like the Islamic State has some Americans concerned and U.S. authorities on alert for homegrown militants, said Brian Lai, UI associate professor of international relations who teaches a class on American foreign policy that touches on terrorism and hostage negotiations.

'Part of the reason the U.S. wants to be more involved in stopping IS is, if they are able to get a base of operations set up in Iraq or Syria, they could train individuals who would then come to the U.S. and engage in terrorist activities,” Lai said.

The attacker in Australia didn't fit the profile of a Syria-training terrorist, but Lai said the hostage situation advances fears that more westerners will head to the Middle East to fight and then return home with terrorist motives.

'Australia is geographically closer to areas with larger amounts of terrorist organizations than the United States,” he said. 'But the fact that they are similar and both developed countries raises concerns that it could happen here.”

And, according to Lai, there are plenty of U.S. venues where someone 'could easily initiate a hostage situation.”

Still, Lai said, he believes it will take more than scenarios like the one that played out in Sydney this week to dramatically shift the U.S. policy on its involvement in the fight against the Islamic State.

'This shouldn't change our policy,” he said. 'The next level of commitment from us will be more ground troops, and it would take a lot for us to want to commit to that.”