After the first Gulf War and the gradual collapse of the Soviet Union, the Americans dominated the Middle East. It was time to push for a resolution of the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin began a dialogue with the Palestinians. The ulterior motive of these contacts was to neutralize the influence of the Iranians. And the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who felt threatened, organized a resistance front against Israel and the United States, and secretly prepared to acquire nuclear weapons.