The Recognition of Obama Administration's Smart Power Strategy against the Islamic Republic of Iran

The "Sanction" is one of the US's durable policies against the Islamic Republic of Iran during different periods from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump administrations. This article aims to present a review of sanctions imposed against Iran during the Obama Era, with a view to analyzing the concept of power. The key question which is raised is "What kind of power was effectively used towards Iran during Barack Obama’s Presidency? Exercising American “Smart Power” in Iran is considered as a hypothesis of the article. Findings of the article show that the exercise of Obama administration’s smart power in the Iranian government was influenced by the postmodern era as well as changing the concept and use of power. In international relations, the term of smart power strategy refers to the combination of all components of hard and soft powers such as using diplomatic capacities, surge in diplomacy, power of cyber (security) and information technologies, economic and cultural powers, international institutionalism, int’l consensus also public opinions and imagination. Raw data of the research has been collected through library-based surveys as well as analyzed by a descriptive analysis study method.