Washington, DC - The Department of State released today Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVIII, Middle East Region; Arabian Peninsula.
This volume documents the Carter administration’s approach to the region in response to the shifting political landscape in Southwest Asia at the end of the 1970s. It covers the broad range of issues which shaped and influenced the administration’s policies toward the Middle East region as a whole, including developments in the Gulf and the western Indian Ocean, as well as U.S. bilateral relations with the Arabian Peninsula countries and Iraq.
The Carter administration focused initially on strengthening relationships with partners like Saudi Arabia, cultivating new relationships with the newly-independent Gulf states, and re-establishing dialogues with the Yemen Arab Republic and Iraq. However, the end of the Shah of Iran’s rule at the beginning of 1979 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December of that year prompted the administration to raise U.S. strategic engagement in the region. For officials, these events highlighted the need for a more robust U.S. military presence and security framework to meet the challenges of the new security environment across Southwest Asia and the northern arc of the Indian Ocean. President Carter articulated this new imperative in his January 1980 State of the Union address, in which he pledged that the United States would use military force to protect its interests in the Middle East, a position which became known popularly as the “Carter Doctrine.” Throughout the remainder of his time in office, Carter and his foreign policy advisers strove to increase U.S. military presence in Southwest Asia and to seek greater access and basing rights across the region.
This compilation was compiled and edited by Kelly M. McFarland. The volume and this press release are available on the Office of the Historian website at http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v18. Copies of the volume will be available for purchase from the U.S. Government Printing Office online at http://bookstore.gpo.gov (GPO S/N 044-000-02671-6; ISBN 978-0-16-092999-1), or by calling toll-free 1-866-512-1800 (D.C. area 202-512-1800). For further information, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
