Abstract: This essay explores international sanctions as a technology of global governmentality. I explore the enduring effects of decades of international sanctions against Iran on the individuals who experience them daily. As a backdrop to understanding the experiences of the civilian populations on the receiving end of sanctions, I begin with an examination of the historical relationship between the sanctioning of recalcitrant states and the uses of global economy. In this context, sanctions serve as instruments of political coercion and technologies of power, which, in their enduring capacity, also possess productive potential. As a result, I then explore how sanctions affect individuals, their social relations, and the working worlds of people in different Iranian industries.