President Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, as Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner listen. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

(CNSNews.com) – President Obama dedicated about one-tenth of his State of the Union address Tuesday to foreign affairs, using that section of the election-year speech to underscore his administration’s assertion that “America is back.” The comment was an implied criticism of his Republican predecessor’s policies abroad.

Citing “stronger” alliances in Europe and Asia, “deeper” ties in the Western hemisphere, the “closest military cooperation” ever between the U.S. and Israel, and the new focus on the Asia-Pacific, Obama declared that “the renewal of American leadership can be felt across the globe.”

“From the coalitions we’ve built to secure nuclear materials to the missions we’ve led against hunger and disease; from the blows we’ve dealt to our enemies to the enduring power of our moral example, America is back,” he said.

“Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” he continued. “That’s not the message we get from leaders around the world who are eager to work with us. That’s not how people feel from Tokyo to Berlin, from Cape Town to Rio, where opinions of America are higher than they’ve been in years.”

Obama also reprised the claim – made in a recent interview notwithstanding some signs to the contrary – that his administration has succeeded in uniting the international community against Iran over its suspect nuclear activities.

“Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program now stands as one,” he said. “The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent.”

The president had tough words for the regime, but also held out the possibility of a diplomatic settlement to the decade-long standoff.

“Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal,” he said. “But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations.”

Heritage Foundation scholar James Phillips noted that Obama had devoted just one paragraph of his address to Iran – an issue identified by respondents in a new Pew Research Center poll as the foremost national threat to U.S. national security.

Phillips also took issue with Obama’s remarks on sanctions against Tehran.

“Left unsaid in his reference to ‘crippling sanctions’ is the inconvenient truth that his administration repeatedly has opposed and sought to soften congressional legislation to ratchet up sanctions against Iran,” he said. “In fact, the most recent U.S. sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank were imposed on the administration by Congress, after the Senate voted 100-0 to override the administration’s objections to the sanctions.”

Other foreign issues touched on during the State of the Union included:

--Two references to the killing of Osama bin Laden, neatly bookending the speech.

--The ongoing campaign against al-Qaeda terrorists, “from Pakistan to Yemen.”

--The completed troop withdrawal from Iraq and drawdown from Afghanistan – but no reference to negotiations with the Taliban.

--The past year’s upheavals in the Arab world, an acknowledgement of the uncertain eventual outcome, and a pledge to stand against violence and “for the rights and dignity of all human beings – men and women; Christians, Muslims and Jews.”

--The exit of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and strong words for Syrian President Bashar Assad: “I have no doubt that the Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change can’t be reversed, and that human dignity can’t be denied.”

--A warning on uncompetitive trade policies and intellectual property piracy, and an announcement of the creation of a unit to investigate “unfair trading practices in countries like China.”

The president also pushed back at criticism that he does not sufficiently promote the idea of American global leadership and “exceptionalism.”

“America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs,” he said. “And as long as I’m president, I intend to keep it that way.”

Some of that criticism has come from Republican presidential hopefuls. “We have a president right now who thinks America’s just another nation,” Mitt Romney said during a debate in South Carolina last November. “America is an exceptional nation.”

Pressing current foreign issues not mentioned in the SOTU included: the recent leadership change in North Korea and ongoing concerns about its nuclear weapons programs; the euro crisis; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the shaky Russian “reset,” troubling recent elections and fears of growing authoritarianism there; Mexico’s deadly drug violence; and United Nations funding and reform.

Foreign policy featured briefly at the outset of the one hour, four minute-long SOTU and then for a more extended period beginning around three-quarters of the way through the speech.

Roughly 10 percent of the 7,059-word address related to foreign policy. By comparison, foreign policy accounted for about 12 percent of Obama’s 2011 SOTU and 11 percent of the 2010 address. In President Bush’s last SOTU, in 2008, about 36 percent was devoted to foreign affairs.