The world community at the turn of the XX and XXI centuries entered a qualitatively new stage of its development. The collapse of the bipolar system, processes of globalization, increasing number and changing quality parameters of conflicts, the formation of new types of participants, as well as new models of post-conflict settlement under the direct leadership of the world hegemon – the United States and its NATO allies – reveal the need for serious study of the United States strategy and tactics for transforming the Middle East region.
The Middle East has a number of unique features that set it apart from many other regions of the world. It is difficult to compare any other corner of the world with the Middle East in terms of its geopolitical position, since it is located at the junction of three parts of the world: Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is no accident that almost all the powerful world nations tried at one time to establish control over it, declaring it as the area of their "vital" interests. They who controlled the Middle East controlled the Eastern part of the Mediterranean basin and the Western part of the Indian Ocean basin. The Middle East was the cradle of two world religions in the course of historical development: Christianity and Islam, in other words, it was the center of the birth of two world cultures.
The foreign policy strategy of the United States in the Middle East is reflected in National Security Strategies, official documents, analytical articles that reveal the goals, objectives, and motives of Washington's actions in the region. The foreign policy of the United States is influenced not only by official doctrines, but also by analytical reports that are the result of the work of more than a hundred scientific institutions that regularly analyze the situation in the Middle East.
The United States came to the Middle East region relatively late: in the XIX century. After the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the main foreign countries competing with each other in this region were Great Britain and France, with stronger positions of London. The United Kingdom tried to eliminate external interference in the Middle East in order to independently control the Suez Canal, the region of the Persian Gulf, and the Gulf of Aden. The policy of the United Kingdom was based on a "triple containment" strategy, in which London sought to maintain a balance of power between Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The United States, in contrast to the United Kingdom, set primarily economic goals in the Middle East before the end of the Second World War. The region gained its geostrategic significance for Washington only after 1945.