The Causes of Ineffectiveness of US Sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran based on the Political, Economic and Geopolitical Components

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Humanities, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Humanities, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Sanctions have been used as a foreign policy tool since the post-World War II as an alternative means to war, to change governments or switch their behavior. From that period until now, the methods of imposing sanctions have become distinctive  and complicated. Additionally, sanctions have become increasingly smarter day by day. The history of sanctions imposed by the United States of America against the Islamic Republic of Iran dates back to the first year after the victory of the Islamic Revolution (1980). The sanctions imposed against Iran are among the most durable and at the same time the most extensive ones imposed against the government and people of any country in terms of duration, scope and methods of application. The general conclusions are that the application of sanctions against Iran, even with different goals, produced sufficient impact during the long time of their application, resulting in economic losses, great people’s suffering and relative isolation of Iran.
However, it did not achieve the intended goals previously defined as basis for their application.  In this article, assuming the ineffectiveness of the sanctions (considering the failure to change of change in the government/behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the main goals of the United States, we seek to investigate the reasons for this ineffectiveness. In this article, by introducing the components and examples of political, economic, technological factors and geopolitical advantages the arguments for the ineffectiveness of the American sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran have been presented. Qualitative document analysis constitutes the research method applied in this article.

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Geopolitics Quarterly
Volume 19, Issue 72 - Serial Number 72
December 2023
Pages 314-337

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History

  • Receive Date: 02 December 2022
  • Revise Date: 26 February 2023
  • Accept Date: 08 March 2023

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