In a clear act of public diplomacy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on BBC Persian this week to engage the network's Iranian audience on a range of issues regarding the state of relations between Iran and America. In an interview-format program, she tried to address some important issues raised by Iranians living either in Iran or outside the country.

Such fanfare went beyond the service of prosecuting a single crime. More likely, the charges being leveled at Iran came in the service of “public diplomacy,” an attempt to establish a broad narrative that serves a policy decision. Pushing the narrative of the Iranian “boogeyman” is not unusual in U.S. policy circles.

The soft power of the Islamic revolution of Iran has relocated the war fronts between the West and Islam from Iran and the Islamic bloc to the European borders and the heart of capitalism, i.e. Wall Street, Fars News Agency quoted Samad Marashi as saying on Sunday.

Eyre highlighted the special role that the U.S. State Department serves in trying to “tear down the electronic curtain” erected by the Iranian government, by using diplomatic measures, provision of technology, and the use of public diplomacy.

Target public diplomacy to expose the regime’s human rights abuses. Such a campaign should document the abuses and aid victims, step up broadcasting and support for independent Iranian broadcasters outside the country to expose corruption of officials...

The Arab Spring has diminished Iran's ability to wield soft power in the region. Instead, the momentum has shifted to Turkey, which has not been shy about stealing pages from the Iranian playbook for appealing to the Arab street.

Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized the structure of the United Nations...I think this speech is a public diplomacy measure and...for the most part they will have an influence among their audience that they are directed at.