The Iran Arms Scandal: What is Its Impact on the Persian Gulf?
Abstract
Persian Gulf oil is vital to the West, and any attempt by an outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf is viewed as an assault on the vital interests of the U.S. and will be met by military force, if necessary. Our interests in the region, however, are faced with many challenges, including Soviet expansionism, Iranian theological radicalism, the destabilizing effect of the Iran-Iraq War on our Arab allies, and international terrorism sponsored by Iran, Syria, and Lybia. These problems were magnified in November 1986 by the revelation that the U.S. government has secretly sent arms to Iran in order to secure the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. Our Arab allies, who all support Iraq in the Gulf War, were naturally displeased by this revelation, but they quickly recovered from their shock and began to take advantage of the situation by playing on American shock and guilt over the incident in order to request more modern weaponry and other assistance. For its part, the administration has acceeded to many of these requests in an effort to repair the damage it believes was done to its reputation in the Arab world by the Iran affair. The problem is that many of these actions were taken in haste with little time for reflection of study and they may prove more damaging to our long-range regional goals than the original arms scandal itself.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 23, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA183281
Entities
People
- Robert J. Nemeth
Organizations
- United States Army War College