AbstractFollowing the Cold War,the focus of the US global strategy is on “two Oceans and one region”.The Middle East in 1997
was one of the regions where the scramble and competition among the major world powers was the most acute.There emerged two problems with the US in course of pursuing the policy of “containing Iran and Iraq in the east and promoting peace talks in the west”:“inadquate efforts made in implementation”and “inappropriateness of the policy itself”,thus weakening to some degree its unprecedented powerful position it once enjoyed in the aftermath of the Gulf War.In order to enhance its dominant position and
influence in the Middle East,it has become inevitable that America would try to adjust its Middle East policy.In making concrete adjustments,it is confronted with enormous tests,and its policy orientation is possibly such as:on the one hand,it will exert limited influence on Israel,i.e.while pushing the Middle East peace process to “creep”forward again,it must not undermine the US Israeli special
relationship;on the other,it will adjust conditionally its “policy of duel containment”,as such, there will be no substantial change in US policy toward Iraq if no major benefits can be gained from it,and while US Iran relationship may see some improvement in fields of economy and trade,there will be no major breakthrough anyway.