Containing Iran


 

Publication Date: March 1994

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): James Phillips

Research Area: Energy; Government

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.