The Geopolitics of Oil

There is a significant body of literature associating the political instability of the Middle East with the active political and military engagement of the United States in the Persian Gulf. In American eyes, the enormous oil reserves available in the region are considered strategic elements for the country’s political and economic interests. Stimulated by this scenario, this paper aims to analyze the relationship between oil, US foreign policy and the geopolitical configuration of the Persian Gulf, from 1945 to the present, seeking to identify how the influence of oil on US foreign policy has affected the geopolitical configuration of the Persian Gulf. The path used to achieve this goal is to investigate the US relationship with the three main oil producers in the Persian Gulf: Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq. By emphasizing the historical narrative, the study focuses on key moments in which US foreign policy influenced the geopolitical configuration of the Middle East.