n Doctrine of 1947. It argued that there was a Soviet and communist threat in Greece and Turkey and, to a lesser extent, in Iran. Since no other Western state was in a position to help protect these countries from the threat, it fell upon the United States to assume that role. This established a pattern that has been followed with surprising consistency since that time. The threat of a Soviet challenge was identified and no alternative power was prepared to meet the challenge. The United States responded and sought to restrict Soviet actions in the zone directly threatened. In its response, the United States indicated a willingness to employ military force if necessary to deal with the problem. The Truman Doctrine was followed by the Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957 that focused on the Arab Israeli sector of the Middle East.
At the time the Truman Doctrine was enunciated, the Soviet Union had forces stationed in northern Iran, as a result of agreement during the Second World War between the western Allies and the Soviet Union to protect Iran as a nation through which western aid could be shipped to the Soviets for their struggle against Nazi Germany. Since the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s, the United States had considered the fate of the Persian Gulf states crucial to American interests. There had been traditional British opposition to Russian encroachment in Iran going back to the 19th century, which was only put aside in the face of the wartime emergency. Eventually the Soviet Union withdrew from northern Iran in 1948 in the face of British and American opposition.
Although the Soviet Union supported the creation of the State of Israel by its vote in the United Nations, the Arab-Israeli conflict that ensued created opportunity for the Soviets to expand their influence in the Arab states and at the same time counter Western influence in the region, by supporting their anti-Israel policies. When the United State...