American Security Policy in the Persian Gulf

This book notes that the United States has implemented multiple strategies in the Persian Gulf region to achieve its goals and safeguard its national interests. The recent U.S. strategy in the Persian Gulf is a bilateral containment approach aimed at simultaneously weakening and threatening both Iran and Iraq. The book attempts to review the historical developments, objectives, and ups and downs of U.S. security strategies and policies in the Persian Gulf in detail, while also explaining various aspects of the dual containment policy focusing on controlling, weakening, and restricting the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq. The evolution and mechanisms of this strategy are dissected, and its consequences and outcomes analyzed. Chapter one, comprising three sections titled “An Overview of U.S. Security Policy in the Persian Gulf until the End of the Cold War,” covers 1: The framework of U.S. security policy, 2: U.S. interests and objectives in the Persian Gulf, and 3: Barriers and deterrents to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf. Chapter two, through two sections, examines the impact of the end of the Cold War and the post-Cold War era on U.S. global and regional policies, discussing 1: The new world order, 2: The unipolar security system of the U.S. in the Persian Gulf. Chapter three addresses “The End of Regional Balance Policy between Iran and Iraq.” Chapter four first analyzes the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the U.S. dual containment policy and its dimensions and characteristics; then, it evaluates U.S. policies for containing Iran, followed by U.S. policies for containing Iraq.