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Article: United States-Iranian relations: the terrorism challenge.
- Article from:
- Parameters
- Article date:
- December 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 U.S. Army War College. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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With more than 70 million people, the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the most populous countries in the Middle East. In addition to this large and talented human-resource pool, Iran possesses a variety of natural resources, most notably hydrocarbon deposits: the world's second largest oil reserve (after Saudi Arabia) and the second largest deposit of natural gas (behind Russia). Iran enjoys a strategic location between the Middle East and Central Asia. In short, the Islamic Republic is too important a regional power to be neglected.
In comparison, the United States is the world's sole superpower with global economic and strategic interests. For more than half ...