The Impact of Iran's Public Diplomacy in Lebanon on the Islamic Republic of Iran's Soft Power

The main question of the present study is: What is the impact of Iran’s public diplomacy in Lebanon on the Islamic Republic of Iran's soft power? Given the hypothesis that “Iran’s public diplomacy in Lebanon has direct impact on the Islamic Republic of Iran's soft power”, the present study aims at evaluating the components of the Islamic Republic of Iran's public diplomacy in Lebanon, exploring the challenges and vulnerabilities and offering a strategic and operational model for improving the Islamic Republic of Iran's public diplomacy and consequently enhancing its soft power. Using the descriptive-analytic (survey) method, this study has concluded that given the priorities of ideological potentials, political values, cultural values and mass media, the Islamic Republic of Iran's public diplomacy in Lebanon can be planned and reinforced by underlining NGO diplomacy, multi-faceted diplomacy, bilayer and multilayer politics, multilateral diplomacy and inter-regional diplomacy.