US Geo-strategic Imperatives in the Persian Gulf Region: Is Iran a Missing Link?

Since the Second World War, the United States had demonstrated that almost no region in the world can be left without its interference. The Persian Gulf is therefore not unique in this regard, but American involvement here has been much more intensive than in many other places. Why this should be, is the subject of this paper. For the United States, the Persian Gulf region is oil-rich and thus geo-strategically very important. Iran is OPEC's second largest oil producer and holds 10 percent of the world's proven reserves and has the world's second largest natural gas reserves. According to the Oil and Gas Journal for 2005, Iran has 125.8 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, roughly 10 percent of the world's total. Iran also has 32 producing oil fields of which 25 are onshore and 7 offshore. According to the same source, Iran contains an estimated 940 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, the world's second largest reserves.