ABSTRACT
The strategic location of the area -- adjacent to the southern boundaries of the USSR as well as the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region -- and the Soviet concern about the concentration of United States (US) political and military influence in the entire area have been among the most important long-term determinants of Soviet policy. The corollary of the Soviet attempt to preclude the establishment of influence in the region by one of the two major opponents of the USSR has been the desire to create a Soviet-oriented grouping of Southwest Asian states. Soviet influence waned in the Persian Gulf region in general and Iran in particular through the 1950s, as the US increasingly made inroads into this region. A major fact of life is the fundamentally unrepresentative character of the bulk of the regimes in the region. The Persian Gulf region is of vital importance for the economic well-being of West Europe and East Asia.
