ABSTRACT
The impingement of the external environment, which conditions the exercise of Iran’s foreign relations, on its Islamic revolutionary values and rhetoric is clearly obvious. In Iran’s view the war launched by Saddam Hussein in September 1980 could only be explained by United States (US) complicity and encouragement. More important than the improved air defence and anti-tank capability, and the increased operability of the remaining aircraft, was the political and psychological impact of the publicity surrounding the disclosure of US arms supplies to Iran. Iraq’s allies felt the need to move to recognize the ‘historical fact’ of the Islamic revolution and to reinsure against the possibility of an Iranian victory. More elusive was the devising of a means of applying pressure and offering incentives to Iran in the service of a policy that preserved US interests in both Iran and the other Gulf states.
