During the cold war, the soviet union and the democracies in the west competerd for influrence in the middle east beacuse of its
1. strategic location and valuable resources.
2. vast fertile farmlands and rivers
3. large well-educated population
4. industrial potential
2 is silly, in 3 only IRAQ had a large well educated population. That leaves 1 and 4. Industrial potential requires a vast education population, a manufacturing infrastructue, transportation routes, etc. So that leaves 1 as the answer