ABSTRACT
United States military planners designing a new strategic framework for the Gulf in the wake of the Iranian revolution recognized the need to plan for a wide variety of threats and contingencies. Pentagon officials left no doubt that the contingency planning for the Gulf would take into account 'threats of any magnitude, from internal subversion to a large-scale Soviet aggression'. The Rapid Deployment Joint Task Forces (RDJTF) contingency planning took into account other, 'non-Soviet' threats. The US used arms sales to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to realize the twin objectives of enhancing the latter's capabilities against local threats and increasing its leverage with their individual as well as collective security policies. The Reagan administration also resorted to emergency transfers of arms to the Saudi Kingdom in response to anticipated Iranian air attacks. There were no easy options in the planned US response to the threat of a massive Soviet attack on Iran.
