Green strength is an important property of powders since high green strength guarantees easy and safe handling before sintering. The green strength of a powder compact is related to mainly mechanical and surface characters, governed by interlocking of the particles. In this study, the effect of powder surface roughness on the green strength of iron powders was investigated using a transverse rupture test. Three-dimensional laser profiler was employed for quantitative analyses of the surface roughness. Two different surface conditions, i.e. surface roughness, of powders were compared. The powders having rough surfaces show higher green strength than the round surface powders since higher roughness leads increasing interlocked area between the contacting powders.