The Historical Logic Behind U.S. Middle East Strategy

Masaki Mizobuchi, professor at Meiji Gakuin University, explains the three pillars driving American engagement in the Middle East: oil, Israel, and containment.

• Roughly half of the world’s proven oil reserves are concentrated in the Persian Gulf states
• Even after the U.S. became a net oil exporter, a Strait of Hormuz blockade would still hit American gas prices directly
• The “oil-for-security” arrangement with Saudi Arabia dates back to the immediate aftermath of World War II
• After the 1967 Six-Day War, the U.S. began supplying Israel with advanced weapons and tacitly accepting its nuclear program
• Pahlavi Iran was a key U.S. ally until the 1979 Revolution
• The 1991 Gulf War prompted a major expansion of U.S. military bases across Qatar, the UAE, and neighboring states
• In the Middle East, every administration before Trump already treated international law and democratic norms as exceptions — the erosion of the rules-based order did not start with Trump

2026-04-21 · Watch on YouTube

Japanese page: 米国中東戦略の歴史的構造