ABSTRACT
The energy resources and location, and for economic, cultural, and religious reasons, the Gulf has become increasingly important to the Western world and to the Soviet Union in recent years. The Gulf States are the main suppliers of oil to Western Europe, Japan, and to a lesser extent the United States. In 1981, the Gulf States accounted for 30.1 percent of total world oil production. The securing of Gulf oil is of utmost importance to many world leaders and their allies; the dependence of Western Europe and Japan upon Gulf oil, for example, is of great concern to the United States as well. An objective of US foreign policy in the Gulf region is, therefore, to emphasize such dangers and simultaneously to secure larger arms purchases. US foreign policy in the Gulf is predicated upon the assumption that the USSR is the major threat to the area - especially to Western interests there.
