Asymmetrical Cooperation between Iran and the United States under Obama

The U.S. foreign policy under Obama has undergone drastic changes. It should be borne in mind, however, that there are some rather constant and unchangeable elements in the U.S. political behavior and foreign policy. Obama's approach to foreign policy could therefore be regarded as a return once again to the paradigm of security realism. The theories of security realism are based on the concepts of balancing and equilibrium. Within this overall framework, it could argue that Obama can develop a new model for foreign policy based on balancing, equilibrium, cooperation, participation and multilateralism. This article tries to study Obama's foreign policy towards Iran during his first year in office from a realist point of view and within the framework of a model based on balancing and equilibrium. It paper argues that the main characteristics of his realistic approach will go beyond “Wilsonian interventionism” and include consideration of some aspects of pragmatism in foreign policy by using result-based models.