Iraq After The Gulf War (long) Relationship Between

With the great changes of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the breakout of the Gulf War in the early 1990s, American influence went into the Middle East completely while the post-khomeini age began in Iran. As the confrontation between worldly hegemony and regional hegemony, the two countries' relationship around the containment and discontainment, engagement and deterrence, which experienced four stages-"Grasping the chance for each future (1991-1992)", "defaming and conflict seriously (1993-1996)", "limited containment and active engagement (1997-2001.9.11)", "the axis of evils and preempting (2001.9.11 until now)", started in every area. During the period, the foreign strategies of America and Iran concentrated on the Middle East and the Middle Asia, especially on the Persian security and their emphases were embodied in the peace process of the Middle East, terrorism and the Weapons of Massive Destruction. Because the relationship is the two-level game, the United States will put it into its whole Middle East' strategy. At the same time, Iran stresses on the balance of the domestic power. So the breakthrough of any level, international or domestic, will not result in the essential change of the relation. With the end of the Iraqi War, the United States' policy against Iran will make the diplomatic method prior to the intelligence strike. After the regime of Rafsanjani and Khatami, Iran recognizes the importance of power diplomacy and the reality of the international politics more and more. In terms of the length and the complication of Iraqi reconstruction and the concept of America's "New Order of the Middle East", the relationship between America and Iran is full of the uncertainty and considerable prospect as well in the future.