The Middle East term from the Italian point if view can be called as West Asia. It include all the Asian countries stretches from the West of Pakistan to the South of Russia. It is one of the most important regions of the world. Strategically it is important for U.S.A. because of the following factors.
1. It has got rich oil resources.
2. It has got important trade sea routes.
3. It is the region which delinks East from the West.
4. It links Asia, Europe and Africa.
5. During both World wars it provided strategic important bases for the major military operations and it was the area from where the final attack against Germany was launched.
So keeping in mind the above mentioned factors for the strategic importance of the region, the US interests in the region can be divided into following headings
1. Containment of Soviet Union:
Middle East was a buffer zone between the East and the West and was closed to the iron curtain neither the Soviet block nor the American could afford to loose this important region because the tilt of this region to any of the block would have seriously affected the global balance of power, so, USA tried her utmost to keep Soviet Union away from the region.
2. Access to the Oil Resources:
The most important of the interests was access to the oil resources and particulary after the 1970’s when in 1973 an oil embargo was imposed upon the West in the retaliation to the massive support to Israelis in the 1972 war. That embargo seriously affected the industrialized states of Europe. So, in order to prevent this to happen in future it was necessary to have an access to oil.
3. Survival of Israel:
It is another vital interest of USA in the region to secure the survival of Israel in the region which is of utmost important to her interest because Israel was the only country particularly after the downfall of monarchy in Iran which was considered as the Policeman in the Arabian Gulf, which could secure the vital interests of USA in the region.
4. Encirclement of Radical Elements:
It was also supreme interest of USA to fight against the so called rogue states. The encirclement of Iran, Iraq, Algeria and Libya to prevent them from becoming regional powers threaten the interests of America.
5. To Fight Islamic Fundamentalism:
Particularly after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Islamic fundamentalism became a threat to the US supremacy in the region. So, she wanted to crush all such movements which she regarded as terrorist movements.
