British defence policy in the Middle East and other areas

This file concerns British defence policy in the Middle East and other areas. It contains correspondence and reports on:

• The draft of a report by the Directors of Defence Policy entitled ‘Defence options in the Gulf, Red Sea and north west Indian Ocean areas’, with headings including: the reassertion of Islam, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Arab strengths and weaknesses, US strategy in the Gulf and Indian Ocean, and the UK military presence in the Middle East
• The draft of a report entitled 'Anticipatory Military Committee Advice Paper on Military Aspects of Future Relations Between NATO and strategically important Middle East Countries', with headings dealing with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States; Syria, Iraq and Iran; Lebanon; and Yemen
• The intervention by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, and regional considerations arising
• NATO, tactical and strategic nuclear weapons, and arms control
• Parliamentary questions concerning British defence policy in the Gulf and the withdrawal of British forces; the establishment by the US of a rapid deployment force; and US-Oman relations
• The visit to the UK in January 1980 of the French Defence Minister Yvon Bourges
• A proposal by Bahrain’s Defence Minister Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa for a confidential seminar on Gulf defence