Not only did the tanker escort operation Earnest Will highlight growing American determination to oppose threats to U.S. Hence, America's traditional allies were well disposed to President Bush's August 1990 proposal for international military action against Iraq. Multinational operations during the Tanker War that involved naval units from the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands enhanced a sense of joint responsibility for the protection of international shipping and maintenance of the Persian Gulf oil trade. The Navy's long experience as a military shield in the gulf also fostered closer relations between the United States and its Western allies. The local Arab states would not forget this American constancy when Iraq threatened regional stability in 1990. These positive actions helped dissipate the memory of Washington's lack of resolve during the Tehran hostage crisis and the Lebanese civil war in the early 1980s, when significant doubt had developed about American staying power. The fleet also prevented Iran's military power from advancing across the gulf. The carrier and battleship task forces that operated in the North Arabian Sea and the cruisers, destroyers, and mine countermeasures ships of Joint Task Force Middle East in the gulf were largely responsible for maintaining the flow of oil from the producing countries of the region. Navy's performance during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 strengthened these relations. Their devout Muslim populations were not likely to accept large, predominantly Christian, and non-Arab air and ground forces operating from inland bases. They also came to consider naval forces that operated in international waters or required only minimal support facilities ashore as the most appropriate expression of U.S. warships positioned between them and their often-bellicose northern neighbors. Local leaders recognized the value of having U.S. The Navy's extended presence in the region generated political support for the United States among the economically vital but militarily vulnerable states on the Arabian Peninsula. The continuous, albeit limited, American military presence in the Persian Gulf demonstrated to potential aggressors that in any confrontation they faced the prospect of war with a superpower. naval forces protected America's interests in the region and helped develop international support for U.S. Navy has been one of the primary instruments of that policy, in both peace and war.Ä«etween the establishment of the Middle East Force in 1949 and the outbreak of war in 1990, U.S. foreign policy in the Persian Gulf for almost half a century. Maintaining political stability and the free flow of oil to the global economy have been the overarching objectives of U.S.
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