The U.S Foreign Policy against Iran during the Presidency of Obama and Trump (Based on Mearsheimer's Offensive Realism and Walitz's Defensive Realism)

The purpose of the present research is to explain and clarify the factors and components effective on the U.S foreign policy against Iran during the presidency of Obama and Trump as a period replete with fluctuations. The research method was descriptive-analytic with respect to the systematic review of Obama's and Trump's behavior based on defensive and offensive realism. The U.S foreign policy would be explained based on its security approach to Iran's nuclear activities and regional behaviors involving components such as the character of Arabic-Hebraic lobbies and cabinet members. Obama's foreign policy against Iran relying on the approach of interaction and pressure (intelligent power) was successful whereas Trump's foreign policy failed with respect to its offensive nature and the gap among western countries. Therefore, it can be concluded that both of the presidents attempted to challenge the Islamic Republic of Iran's interests by creating political and economic crises and military threats in internal and external aspects. Obama could restrain Iran's nuclear activities by reaching a nuclear agreement but Trump by withdrawing the nuclear deal, not only could not sustain Obama's achievements but also almost failed to restrain Iran to provide the U.S national interests.