ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of United States (US)— Gulf ties over the twentieth century and examines their multifaceted contemporary components. The first treaty relationship between the United States and a partner in the Gulf goes back nearly two centuries. In 1828, Edmund Roberts, a US merchant and diplomatic envoy, met with the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, Said bin Sultan, in Zanzibar. World War II was the catalyst for the strategic partnership between the United States and Gulf States that augmented the pre-war US oil interests in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the messy eight-year occupation that followed impacted US—Gulf ties in a myriad of ways. The chapter ends with how US—Gulf ties may evolve further in an 'alternative facts' environment and where the US president and his inner circle increasingly resemble a Royal Court where personalized networks appear to trump (pun intended) long-entrenched institutional interests.
