en Israel and her Arab neighbors, had longbeen calm. Soviet pressure on Greece, Turkey, and Iran hadbeen successfully contained in 1947 by a combination oflocal opposition and firm American support.In 1971, the British announced that they would withdrawtheir remaining forces from the Persian Gulf. The French andBritish withdrawal from such colonial dependencies as Syria,Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Lybia, Cyprus and Adenhad pacified local nationalists and helped to calm tensionwithin the region. Soviet attempts to cross over the barrierof the “northern tier” and to win countries such as Egypt,Iraq, and Syria with massive military and economic aid hadbeen only partly successful. In addition, relations between Washington and the majoroil companies with the leading oil producers, Saudi Arabiaand Iran were friendly. The most serious problem for thecompanies was persistent competition from the Soviet oilexports and from smaller Western companies rapid expandingtheir fields in Libya. The result had been a recurrent glutof oil and a slow-motion price war that both tripled thevolume of oil traded in world markets in a decade and cutthe price of the standard grade of Saudi crude petroleumfrom $2.08 a barrel in 1958, to as little as $1.30 in 1970.However, in the mid-1970s that all began to change dueto the growing political unrest in the Middle East. Thefirst crisis was the Arab-Israeli war of 1973. It was duringthat year that oil prices jumped from $2 to $10 and duringthe Iranian revolution of 1979, prices went from $13 to $32.From that point on, the United States found that it had avested interest in engaging in serious foreign policyrelations with the Middle East countries to ensure thecontinuing availability and cost containment of its oil tothe United States. Oil And Its Impact On Foreign Policy Why is oil considered part of U.S. foreign policy?According to Rustow (1982), “Oil is the most importantcommodity in the wo...
