Richard Nixon, Great Britain and the Anglo-American Alignment in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula - Making Allies out of Clients

Iran soon became one of the world's largest arms buyers, with the US balance of payments being the main beneficiary. Petersen states that the Labour Party was committed due to practical and ideological reasons to wind up Britain's overseas commitments; however, whilst this is part of the story, some other explanations of the debates which took place and the often contradictory nature of Labour's rhetoric and actions would have been useful. [...]there could have been more said on the differences between the State Department and the White House, greater exposition of the Middle East's place in US international strategy and more on the reactions to the oil nationalizations, such as the studies on a potential energy crisis and need for debate with allies which took place within the US administration prior to the 1973 shocks.