Ancient civilizations-2

The Iran-Iraq War

A fresh threat to the rich oil states of the gulf arose with the revolution in Iran in 1978–79 and with the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980. Islamic fundamentalism in the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Iran struck an answering chord with Shīʿites and Iranian workers in the Arabian states, which gave financial support to Iraq. U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his successor in 1981, Ronald Reagan, pledged American support to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 60 percent of the industrial world’s oil supply was being transported.

In response to the tensions of the Iran-Iraq War, Saudi Arabia and other gulf Arab states expanded their military power, but the small size of their populations limited their military effectiveness. In 1979 Saudi religious extremists seized the Al-Ḥaram mosque (Great Mosque) of Mecca and revolted against the Saʿūdi dynasty. They were forcibly repressed, and few changes were made in the Saudi government.

In March 1981 Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates formed the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to promote stability and cooperation in the gulf region; the GCC coordinated their economic and defensive efforts. Expected economic growth in the entire region was slowed by the fall in oil prices in the mid-1980s, and the countries of Arabia made plans to diversify their economies and to institute austerity measures in the face of falling prices.

Gulf Cooperation CouncilMap of the constituent countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski Robert Bertram Serjeant William L. Ochsenwald