The Impact of Administrations of Obama and Trump Sanctions on Iran's Political, Social and Economic Conditions

This paper compares the economic and socio-political consequences of pre- and post- JCPOA sanctions ‎imposed on Iranian society with the aim of assessing the role of the resilience as one of the main ‎components of Iranian strategic culture in neutralizing the impact of sanctions. The question to be answered ‎is: “what lesson may be concluded through comparing the similarities and differences between the imposed ‎sanctions on Iran under the administrations of Obama and Trump in comparison while considering their ‎consequences on the socio-political and economic conditions of the country and why? To properly answer ‎this question, the intentions and actions of the sanctioning party, the mechanisms of the sanction and the ‎way the sanctioned party reacts to sanctions as well as the intersection of these three dimensions have to be ‎recognized. The initial response (hypothesis) in terms of these three dimensions is: “despite being more ‎severe the sanctions imposed to Iran during the administration of Trump have only worsened Iran's ‎economic situation compared to sanctions under the Obama's administration, and the country's socio-‎political situation is largely insured against tougher sanctions, which traces back to the rally- around -the- ‎flag." This paper is descriptive-analytical and utilizes inferential methodology. The analysis of findings, ‎mainly conducted through reasoning and qualitative analysis intensifies the validity of the hypothesis.‎