The Cold War is usually remembered as a conflict between East and West—NATO versus Warsaw Pact, democracy versus communism, Kennedy versus Khrushchev. But some of the Cold War's most consequential battles were fought in the deserts and cities of the Middle East.
Between 1945 and 1991, the United States and Soviet Union turned the Middle East into a chessboard. They armed opposing sides, backed coups, invaded countries, and built alliances that persist today. Understanding the modern Middle East requires understanding how the Cold War shaped it.
The Stakes: Oil and Geography
Why did the superpowers care so much about this region?
Oil: By the 1950s, it was clear that whoever controlled Middle Eastern oil controlled the global economy. The U.S. needed to keep oil flowing to Western Europe and Japan. The Soviet Union wanted to deny it to them.
Geography: The Middle East sat at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Soviet access to warm-water ports, control of the Suez Canal, influence over the Persian Gulf—these were existential concerns for American strategists.
Ideology: Both sides genuinely believed they were fighting for humanity's future. The Americans saw Soviet communism as an existential threat to freedom. The Soviets saw American capitalism as imperialism in democratic clothing.
1948: The Arab-Israeli War and Cold War Beginnings
The State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. The United States recognized it eleven minutes later—the first country to do so:
"This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested."
— President Harry S. Truman, May 14, 1948
The Soviet Union recognized Israel two days later. Both superpowers initially supported the new state—the Soviets hoping Israel's socialist kibbutz movement would align it with Moscow.
"The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 broke out when five Arab nations invaded territory in the former Palestinian mandate immediately following the announcement of the independence of the state of Israel."
— U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
The 1948 war set patterns that would endure: regional states took sides, external powers provided weapons, and the unresolved Palestinian question became a permanent source of instability.
1953: Iran and the CIA's First Coup
The Cold War came to the Middle East decisively in 1953, when the CIA and British intelligence overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh.
Mosaddegh had nationalized Iran's oil industry, threatening British Petroleum's profits. The British convinced the Americans that Mosaddegh was a communist threat (he wasn't—he was a nationalist). The CIA organized Operation Ajax, installing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as absolute ruler.
The coup worked in the short term. Iran became a reliable American ally for 25 years. But Iranians never forgot. The 1979 Islamic Revolution and the hostage crisis were direct consequences of the 1953 coup—blowback that took a quarter century to arrive.
1956: The Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis marked the true beginning of American dominance in the Middle East—and the end of British and French imperial power.
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956. Britain and France, outraged, conspired with Israel to retake it. Israel invaded the Sinai; Britain and France used the "crisis" as pretext to seize the Canal.
President Eisenhower was furious. He hadn't been consulted. More importantly, the invasion looked like old-style colonialism at a moment when the U.S. was competing with the Soviet Union for the allegiance of newly independent nations.
"Calls upon all parties to agree to a cease-fire forthwith and withdrawal of foreign forces."
— UN General Assembly Resolution 1002 (ES-I), November 7, 1956
Eisenhower threatened economic retaliation against Britain. The British and French withdrew. The lesson was clear: the old colonial powers were finished. America was now the dominant Western force in the Middle East.
1957: The Eisenhower Doctrine
In January 1957, Eisenhower formalized American commitment to the region:
"The United States regards as vital to the national interest and world peace the preservation of the independence and integrity of the nations of the Middle East."
— President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Special Message to Congress, January 5, 1957
The Eisenhower Doctrine promised American economic and military aid to any Middle Eastern country threatened by "international communism." It also authorized the president to use military force.
The doctrine was applied almost immediately:
- 1957: The CIA intervened in Syrian politics to prevent a leftist government
- 1958: U.S. Marines landed in Lebanon to support a pro-Western government
- 1958: The CIA backed a coup in Iraq (which failed; the pro-Western monarchy was overthrown anyway)
The pattern was set: the U.S. would support any government that opposed communism, regardless of how it treated its own people.
The Superpower Chess Game
Through the 1960s and 1970s, the Middle East became a superpower battleground:
Soviet Allies
- Egypt (until 1972): Nasser received massive Soviet military aid
- Syria: The Assad regime became Moscow's closest Arab ally
- Iraq (intermittently): The Ba'athist government signed a friendship treaty with Moscow
- South Yemen: A Marxist government aligned with the USSR
- Libya: Qaddafi played both sides but leaned Soviet
American Allies
- Israel: After 1967, Israel became America's primary regional ally
- Iran (until 1979): The Shah received unlimited American weapons
- Saudi Arabia: Oil wealth and anti-communism made it essential
- Jordan: The Hashemite monarchy depended on American support
- Egypt (after 1972): Sadat's pivot brought Egypt into the American camp
1967: The Six-Day War
In June 1967, Israel launched a preemptive attack on Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. In six days, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
"This volume documents the Johnson administration's response to the Arab-Israeli crisis and war of June 1967."
— U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, FRUS 1964-68, Volume XIX
The war's consequences reshaped the region:
- Israel occupied territories with millions of Palestinians
- The Soviet Union rearmed Egypt and Syria
- The United States deepened its commitment to Israel
- The occupation began—still continuing today
UN Resolution 242 called for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories in exchange for peace. Neither happened.
1973: The Yom Kippur War and Oil Weapon
On October 6, 1973—Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism—Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel.
"We had wrong assessments - Israel declassifies nearly all remaining documents from 1973 Yom Kippur War."
— Times of Israel, Yom Kippur War Declassification Report
Israel, caught off guard, nearly collapsed in the first days. The U.S. organized a massive airlift of weapons. The Soviets airlifted supplies to Egypt and Syria. For a terrifying moment, the superpowers seemed on the brink of direct confrontation.
UN Resolution 338 eventually ended the fighting:
"Calls upon all parties to present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately."
— UN Security Council Resolution 338, October 22, 1973
But the war had larger consequences. Arab oil producers, outraged at American support for Israel, imposed an embargo. Oil prices quadrupled. The global economy reeled. The "oil weapon" had been deployed.
1979: The Year Everything Changed
Three events in 1979 transformed the Middle East:
The Iranian Revolution
The Shah, America's closest ally in the Persian Gulf, was overthrown by an Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini. The subsequent hostage crisis—52 Americans held for 444 days—humiliated the United States:
"Iran has violated its obligations to the United States under international conventions and international law."
— International Court of Justice, Judgment, May 24, 1980
America lost its most powerful regional ally overnight.
The Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, in a stunning reversal, made peace with Israel. The Camp David Accords, brokered by President Carter, ended the state of war:
"Egypt and Israel agree to negotiate in good faith with a goal of concluding a peace treaty."
— Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, September 17, 1978
Egypt left the Soviet orbit and became an American ally (and major aid recipient). The Arab world was divided—other Arab states condemned Sadat as a traitor. He was assassinated in 1981.
The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up a communist government. The U.S. responded by arming the mujahideen resistance—including a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden.
The Afghan war bled the Soviet Union for a decade. It also created the jihadist networks that would later attack America.
The Cold War's Middle Eastern Legacy
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Cold War ended. But its Middle Eastern consequences live on:
Dictatorships: The U.S. and USSR both supported dictators who served their interests. Many of those authoritarian systems survived—in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere.
Arms races: Both superpowers flooded the region with weapons. Those weapons are still being used.
Israel-Palestine: The conflict became frozen in Cold War alignments. Israel received unconditional American support; the Palestinians received Soviet rhetorical backing but little else. The occupation continued.
Iran: The 1953 coup and the Shah's dictatorship created the conditions for the 1979 revolution. The U.S.-Iran hostility that began then continues today.
Afghanistan: The mujahideen the U.S. armed became the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Cold War's final proxy war produced the forces that attacked America on 9/11.
Regional instability: Borders drawn by colonial powers, governments installed by Cold War intervention, economies dependent on oil and foreign aid—the region's fundamental instability traces to decisions made in Washington and Moscow.
Understanding Today Through Yesterday
The Cold War in the Middle East officially ended in 1991. But look at today's headlines:
- U.S. troops still in Syria (where the Soviet Union once had its closest Arab ally)
- Iran still hostile (consequence of the 1953 coup)
- Israel still occupying the West Bank (captured in 1967, during Cold War tensions)
- Saudi Arabia still a key American ally (relationship forged in Cold War competition)
- Afghan war just ended (war that began as Cold War proxy conflict)
"The Cold War rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union shaped alliances, arms sales, and diplomatic interventions across the Middle East."
— U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
The Cold War created the modern Middle East. The region's borders, governments, conflicts, and relationships with outside powers all bear the fingerprints of that forty-year struggle. Understanding the Cold War is essential for understanding why the Middle East is the way it is—and why it's so hard to change.
Primary Sources
- Eisenhower Doctrine Speech - Yale Law School Avalon Project
- Suez Crisis Resolution - Palquest Historical Documents
- Six-Day War Documents (FRUS) - Office of the Historian, State Department
- Yom Kippur War Declassified Files - Times of Israel
- UN Resolution 338 - UN Security Council
- ICJ Iran Hostage Case - International Court of Justice
- Camp David Accords - Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
- US Recognition of Israel - Truman Library
- State Department Middle East History - Office of the Historian