Middle East Militarization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Middle East Militarization - Essay Example The whole concept of militarization in Iran brought its own doomsday. Though there has been many international arms control process and there has been numerous discussions on the weapons of mass destruction-free zones in the Middle East, the key powers in the province have seen biological, radiological, chemical, and nuclear arsenal as means of power. The same holds true for the long-range rocket systems, like missiles. Iran has been quite aggressive towards the United States since fundamental, spiritual forces overthrew the administration in 1979. Iran is primarily an Islamic Republic which has ties with the Soviet Union, from whom it purchases most of its military arsenal. However, during the 8-year Iraq-Iran war, the United States gave support to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in order to topple the Iranian administration. And in a bizarre turn of events, the United States solicited Iran for support of Operation Desert Shield. However from the year 1987 to 1988, the U.S. warships made certain that the tankers that carried oil through the Persian Gulf had a safe passage. The U.S. forces engaged in combat with the Iranian navy and also attacked the Iranian oil sited in the Persian Gulf. The most spectacular use of the arms of mass annihilation in the Middle East took place between the years 1980-1988 during the Iran-Iraq War. Iran had an armoury of the Soviet SS-1 (Scud-B) missiles and wanted to develop their own surface-to-surface missile system. Iran had plans to purchase the Chinese M-9 missile, which has a 600-kilometer range. Iran claimed that they can manufacture their own adaptation of the SS-1. They had produced an edition of the Chinese Type 53 missile rocket, which they called the Oghab, which had a range of 40-kilometers. Iran was also building an unguided missile which they called â€Å"Iran 130†. This had a range of 130-kilometers. All these missiles are being manufactured to be custom fitted with the chemical