December 2012
Abstract of thesis presented to the Senate of Universiti Putra Malaysia in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
U.S. POLICIES TOWARD IRAN AND IMPLICATIONS FOR REGIONAL SECURITY IN THE PERSIAN GULF FROM 1979 – 2008
 
December 2012
 

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This research examined the US policies toward Iran and its implications on regional security in the Persian Gulf during the period from 1979 – 2008. In addition, the study also evaluated the U.S. policies toward Iran in relations to the Persian Gulf during the presidencies of Carter, Reagan, George HW Bush, Clinton, and George Bush during this period of time. The objectives of the research were achieved by seeking answers to the two research questions: 1) What were the evolutions of the U.S. regional security policies regarding Iran in the Persian Gulf from 1979 to 2008?; 2) What were the influences of the U.S. regional security policies on the regional peace and stability regarding Iran in the Persian Gulf?

Based on the research questions, the goals of this study were to examine and analyze the security policies of different US administrations from the time of the Islamic revolution in 1979 until the end of the George W. Bush presidency in 2008. In other words, the main focus of the study was to understand the security policies of the US administrations during the period from 1979 to 2008 toward Iran in the Persian Gulf region.  Therefore, the study attempted to evaluate these security policies to identify and explain the factors of success or failure of these policies in the Persian Gulf region and to finally determine the security status of the Persian Gulf.  As such, evaluating the thrust of various US policies toward Iran in the Persian Gulf region will show the success or failure of the US to create peace and security in the region.

For this purpose, the qualitative approach was selected and applied to the study and the data were collected from official websites available on the internet. Such data comprised the speeches of the Iranian and American administrations, official records and documents on security policies of the US toward Iran in the Persian Gulf region including the Arms Export Control Act, U.S. Congress negotiations, US Department of State annual reports, Country Reports on Terrorism, Peterson Institute Documents, and Middle East policy council documents. Thus, the goal of using the qualitative approach was to obtain an in-depth understanding of the security policies of the US toward Iran in the Persian Gulf region during the specified period.  The analysis of the data revealed that the unilateral security policies of different US administrations toward Iran in the Persian Gulf did not succeed in establishing stability and peace for the region. Based on the conclusions of the research, the three main findings are outlined as follows:

Firstly, the findings of the current study about the U.S. policies toward Iran in relation to the Persian Gulf region since the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979 show that these policies were always confronted by challenges from local states such as Iran and Iraq and in some cases, a few regional conservative Arab states such as Saudi Arabia. This implies the failure of the unilateral U.S. security policies in the Persian Gulf region.

Secondly, the analysis of the “Regional Security Complex Theory” proves that according to the “Regional Security Complex Theory”, there were significant relationships between the rivalries of the regional states in the Persian Gulf and external interventions. The results revealed that local rivalries led to the interference by external powers in the region.  In the case of Iran, the rivalries inside the Gulf Cooperation Council states and between them and Iran and Iraq led to U.S. intervention in the region. Moreover, the results obtained from application of the theory to the realities of the region revealed that the only reasonable solution for the security problems of the Persian gulf region is a collective security forum that involves all the states of this important area including the GCC states, Iran and Iraq (6+2 arrangement).

Finally, the findings of this study have important implications for the promotion of peace and security in the Persian Gulf region. As the results showed, the various direct and indirect U.S policies toward Iran related to the Persian Gulf were unable to enhance American demands for a stable condition to maintain their interest in the region. Furthermore, the U.S. policies could not stop Iran’s ambitions to have a collective security policy that involved all the Persian Gulf states in a forum. So the findings of this study suggest that to stabilize the region, there should be multilateral relations between Iran, Iraq, the GCC and U.S. that consider the concerns of all parties and the participation of all local states for peace and security to be achievable in the region.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Page

ABSTRACT                                                                                                                  iii

ABSTRAK                                                                                                                    vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS                                                                                            x

APPROVAL                                                                                                                  xi

DECLARATION   xiii

TABLE OF CONTENT   xiv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS  xxi

 

CHAPTER

 

1          INTRODUCTION   1

1.1 Introduction  1

1.2 Background of the Study  2

1.2.1 The Importance of the Persian Gulf Geopolitics  3

1.2.2 U.S. attempts to build a security system for the Persian Gulf      8                                                                                                        8

1.2.3 Feature of the region after U.S. attack of Iraq  10

1.3 Problem statement 12

1.4 Research aims and Objectives  13

1.5 Research questions  14

1.6 Significance of the study  14

1.7 Scope and limitation of the study  18

1.8 Theoretical Framework  19

1.9 Definition of Terms  24

1.9.1 Regional security  24

1.9.2 Regional Security Complex (RSC) 25

1.9.3 Balance of Power 26

1.9.4 Persian Gulf  27

1.9.5 Arab Gulf  27

1.9.6 Unofficial policy  28

1.9.7 Regime  29

1.10 Methodology  29

1.10.1 Research data collection methods  30

1.10.2 Research Designs and Methods  31

1.10.3 Sources of available Data  31

1.10.4 Techniques for collecting and analyzing data  32

 

2        LITERATURE REVIEW    34

2.1 Introduction  34

2.2 Regional security  36

2.3 Evolving of the Persian Gulf Security Regimes  47

2.4 Alternative Security Frameworks for the Persian Gulf  56

2.5 Iran’s Persian Gulf policy  64

2.6 Conclusion  67

          3      THE EVOLUTION OF THE U.S. POLICIES TOWARDS IRAN 69

3.1 Introduction  69

3.2 Background  70

3.3 The Geography and Geopolitics of the Persian Gulf  71

3.3.1 The Persian Gulf Geographic Confines  73

3.3.2 Geopolitics of the Persian Gulf  75

3.3.3 Local Geography  76

3.3.4 Classification of the Persian Gulf states  79

3.4 Great Britain’s presence in the Persian Gulf  80

3.5 British withdrawal from Persian Gulf  81

3.5.1 The American reactions to British withdrawal 83

3.5.2 Regional states reactions regarding British withdrawal 84

3.6 American arrival in the Persian Gulf  85

3.6.1 American policy objectives in Iran  86

3.6.2 The U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf  88

3.6.3 Reasons of American indirect presence after Britain withdrawal 90

3.7 The policy of Twin pillar by Nixon administration  92

3.7.1 Areas of cooperation between Iran and US  99

3.7.2 US military assistance to Iran  101

3.8 Carter Doctrine  104

3.8.1 USCENTCOM in the Persian Gulf region  109

3.9 The policy of Dual containment (the policy of Clinton’s administration – Clinton’s Doctrine) 111

3.9.1 Basic codes of the dual containment policy  114

3.9.2 Factors of supporting Dual Containment Policy  115

3.9.3 Implementation of the Dual containment policy toward Iran  117

3.9.4 Implementation of the Dual containment policy toward Iraq  119

3.10 Establishment of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) 121

 

3.10.1 Introduction  121

3.10.2 Previous Efforts for cooperation and alliance  121

3.10.3 Declared and undeclared objectives of the GCC   123

3.10.4 The main concerns of GCC states regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran  125

3.10.5 Interaction between the GCC states and the U.S. 127

3.10.7 Military abilities of the GCC state  130

3.10.8 A turning point at Doha summit 133

3.11 Conclusion  135

4   EVALUATION OF THE U.S. POLICIES IN PERSIAN GULF 136

4.1 Introduction  136

4.2 Evaluation of the “Twin Pillars Policy”  137

4.3 Evaluation of the “Carter Doctrine”  139

4.4 Evaluation of the Regan Doctrine  143

4.5 Evaluation of the “George Herbert Walker Bush” Policy  146

4.6 Evaluation of the “Dual Containment Policy”  149

4.6.1Evaluating the methods of containment 158

4.7 Evaluation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) policy  159

4.8 evaluation of George W. Bush Policy  165

4.9 Islamic Republic of Iran’s Policies towards the United States  174

4.9.1 The Khatami phenomenon and Iran’s foreign policy  177

4.10 Conclusion  180

        5      FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS  182

5.1 Introduction  182

5.2 Securing the Persian Gulf as a neo-conservative thought 183

5.3 Schools of Thought about Iran  184

5.4 The Persian Gulf Remains as the World’s Energy Supply  185

5.5 Dilemmas in U.S.  Persian Gulf Policies  187

5.6 Regional Security Structures as Possible Options  192

5.6.1 Potential Models (samples) for the Persian Gulf  195

5.6.2   Parameters of Formulating a New Security Structure for the   Region                                                                                                         197

5.6.3 Essential pre-structure for Security building in the Persian Gulf region                                                                                                        198

5.7 Interaction of the GCC Regarding Iran  199

5.7.1 GCC and the Iran-Iraq War 203

5.7.2 The difficulties facing GCC states  204

5.7.3 The American Congress and weapons sales to the GCC 205

5.8 Sources of Conflict in the Persian Gulf Region: Penetration and Resistance                                                                                                         207

5.9 Oil is the main interest but not the unique interest 208

5.10 Major Problem Regarding the U.S. in the Persian Gulf  209

5.11 Conclusion  214

        6     SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS  215

6.1 Introduction  215

6.2 Summary  215

6.3 Conclusion  219

6.3.1 GCC needs a new security arrangement 220

6.3.2 Mutual understanding of the U.S. and Iran  223

6.3.3 Disengaging from the region  225

6.3.4 The New Regional Security Arrangement 227

6.4 Implications (theory and practice) 232

6.5 Recommendation for future research  234

REFERENCES  236

BIODATA OF STUDENT   254

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS  255

 

 

 

 

 

LIST OF TABLES 

Table                                                                                                                                  Page

 1: World Conventional Oil Production                                                                                  6

 2: the United States oil imports                                                                                            76

 3: Past Challenges to U.S. Interests in the Gulf                                                                    89

 4:U.S. MilitaryAssistance to Iran, 1965-1973                                                                    101

 5: GNP & military expenditures of Iran (1968-1980)                                                        102

 6: NATO Contribution of Air forces in Desert Storm                                                        213

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure                                                                                                                                Page 

1: The Middle East & Persian Gulf region                                                                        2

2: Distribution of global Oil Reserves. (EIA, 2009)                                                          5

3: Regional Security Complex Theory                                                                            23

4: Allied Participation in Coalition Operations                                                             213

5: Sorties Flown in Operation Allied Force and Operation Deliberate Force              214

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ASEAN: the Association of Southeast Asian Nation

ARF: ASEAN Regional Forum

BMDS: Ballistic Missile Defense System

CENTO: Central Treaty Organization

DOD: Department of Defense (America)

EIA: Energy Information Administration

G6: Group six including five permanent members of the United Nation’s Security Council (America, Russia China, Britain, France) plus Germany

GCC: Gulf Cooperation Council

GOIC: Gulf Organization for Industrial Consultancy

GRSF: [Persian] Gulf Regional Security Forum

I.R.IRAN: the Islamic Republic of Iran

IAEA: the International Atomic Energy Agency

ILSA: the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996

INP: Iran’s Nuclear Program

ICO: Islamic Conference Organization

ISA: Iran Sanctions Act

NAM:  Non Aligned Movement

NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NPT: treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

NW:  Nuclear Weapon

OPEC: the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

OSCE: the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

PA: Palestinian Authority

PLO: Palestinian Liberation Organization

RDJTF: Rapid Deployment Joint Task Forces.

RSCT: Regional Security Complex Theory

UAE: United Arab Emirates

UN: the United Nations

UNSC: the United Nations Security Council

UK: United Kingdom

USA: the United States of America

USCENTCOM: the U.S. Central Command

USSR: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

WMD: Weapons of Mass Destruction

 

CHAPTER 1
        INTRODUCTION
1.1  Introduction
Since the withdrawal of United Kingdom forces from east of Suez and the Persian Gulf region in 1971, the security system of this region has been confronted with many challenges and the concerns about security have been reintroduced into the debate on the world order and enhanced the previous efforts of the United States of America to establish a balance of power security system against the Soviet Union. Furthermore, the end of formal domination of the United Kingdom since 1971 brought to the debate the issue of security studies and related questions in the Persian Gulf region.

The milestone of the Persian Gulf security developments is occurrence of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 that challenged the US interests in the Persian Gulf.  In this regard, as the Persian Gulf had an important role to the U.S. economy and industry the U.S. policymakers took different policies toward Iran and Persian Gulf region but these policies have always been faced with serious challenges from Iran and other countries in the region.  This study seeks to evaluate the influences of the US security regional policies toward the Persian Gulf after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Also it evaluates the influences of the struggle between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf. This chapter will develop a definition of regional security and the vital role of peace and security among regions and nations. In addition, it will present a brief history of the US regional security policies in the Persian Gulf region. Finally, it will discuss the statement of the problem, research questions, research objectives and the significance of the study.

 

Figure 1: The Middle East & Persian Gulf region

Source: indymedia.org.uk (2012)

1.2  Background of the Study
Regional security and the interdependence of security have always been at the core of security studies by scholars in this field. In security systems studies, states are the basic units in the international system and their autonomy is affected by the regional sub-systems. In the state-centric view, the basic assumption is that states are the primary actors in the international system and are also the legitimate providers of security. In a region like the Persian Gulf, regional states of the Persian Gulf area (Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman), have a vital role in security policies of the region.

On the other hand, super powers and external powers in important regions of the world including Persian Gulf region have their benefits and interests. In this regard, they want to create a balance of power in favor of themselves and in this process, they attempt to maintain or change the security systems of such regions. Logic of balance of power is penetration of external powers in these regions and penetration is caused by indigenous regional rivalry among local states in the regions. So securization and desecurization of each state in the region is in interaction with other states of the region and finally this interaction leads to national security of all regional states.

The background of the study will be discussed in three parts: the importance of the Persian Gulf geopolitics, US past attempts for building security system in the Persian Gulf region and today’s feature of the Persian Gulf region.