Regarding the defense of American oil interests in the Persian Gulf, President Ronald Reagan said, in National Security Decision Directive 114 on November 26, 1983: “[W]e should assign the highest priority to access arrangements which would facilitate the rapid deployment of those forces necessary to defend the critical oil facilities…”
– Ronald Reagan, “U.S. Policy Toward the Iran-Iraq War,” Federation of American Scientists, NSDD 114, Nov. 26, 1983