Iran's Persian Gulf policy

"This book discusses the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards the states of the Persian Gulf from 1979 to 1998. It covers the perceptions Iranians and Arabs have of each other, Islamic revolutionary ideology, the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf Crisis, the election of President Khatami and finally the role of external powers, such as the United States, in the region." "Iran's foreign policy has been more ideology based in the past but has become increasingly pragmatic. Today, Iran's Persian Gulf policy does not differ greatly from that under the Shah. By tracing the policy over the past two decades and including a large number of interviews, the book helps to anticipate the relationship between Iran and the Gulf states."--Jacket.