Since the revolution in Iran and the downfall of the Shah, the whole political balance of the Persian Gulf has been overturned. The war between Iraq and Iran is the first evidence of destabilization but much more could follow especially if the Soviet Union attempted any direct intervention. With their new found bases on the Iraq/Afghanistan border, the Soviets are only a day's drive from Iran's Gulf ports and the Khuzestan oil fields. Sixty per cent of the non-communist world's oil supply is shipped through the Straits of Hormuz and any threat to this flow would jeopardize world peace. The outcome of the political tug-of-war in Tehran is crucial to the future political map of the Persian Gulf. The collapse of the Khomeini regime will eventually come about but the question is who or what will replace it? Since the Iranian revolution the long-standing Washington-Tehran axis has been broken but neither of the superpowers has been able to create a new power base in Iran or Iraq. If committed Soviet supporters do seize power in the region, the prospects for an East-West confrontation over the Gulf's vital energy resources become much more likely. This book, by international authorities on the region, examines these issues and a range of related problems which compromise the security issue in the Persian Gulf. -- from Book Jacket.