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Containing Iran
Publication Date: March 1994
Publisher(s): Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)
Author(s): James Phillips
Topic: Energy (Petroleum industry)
Government (Foreign relations)
Keywords: Middle East
Type: Report
Coverage: Iran
Abstract:
The United States cannot allow Iran to dominate the Persian Gulf region, the strategic storehouse of two-thirds of the world’s oil supplies, any more than it could afford to allow Iraq to do so by invading Kuwait in 1990. Acquiescing to Iranian regional hegemony would undermine Western energy security by jeopardizing the free flow of Persian Gulf oil at reasonable prices. Moreover, it would allow Iran to exploit the enormous oil wealth of the Persian Gulf to accelerate and augment its military buildup and bankroll greater numbers of Islamic radicals and terrorists.