Davood Behboudi - Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Tabriz
Hossein Panahi - Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Tabriz
Taghi Zamzam - MA. Student of economics, Faculty of economics, Management and Business, University of Tabriz

Iran holds the world's fourth-largest proven oil reserves and the world's second-largestnatural gas reserves. International sanctions are redefining the Iranian energy sector, and the lack offoreign investment and technology is affecting the sector profoundly. In 2012, Iran sawunprecedented drops in its oil exports as sanctions by the United States (U.S.) and European Union(EU) were tightened, targeting Iranian oil export revenues. Oil and gas revenues play a vital role inIranian government’s performance. That is why we decided to have a glance on efficacies of recentsanctions on Iran’s oil and gas exportation. The purpose of this paper is to outline how the Westernsanctions have affected Iran’s oil and gas sector. Our studies show that, international embargoeshave negatively affected this sector. Of course, Iran is not reactive and strikes back. Furthermore, inthis study, through Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, weconcluded that some of the top priorities for Iran to thwart the impact of sanctions are: develop itsNatural Gas fields, reduce unrefined oil sales and enhance its exportation of petroleum products,correct internal mismanagements, and also reduce its annual budget reliance on crude oil revenuesby non-oil export development and using tax monies.

Sanction, Iran, U.S., EU, Oil and gas sector, Hormuz Strait, SWOT