In order to prevent the oxide formation on the surface of nano-size iron particles and thereby to improve the oxidation resistance, iron nanoparticles synthesized by a chemical vapor condensation method were directly soaked in hexadecanethiol solution to coat them with a polymer layer. Oxygen content in the polymer-coated iron nanoparticles was significantly lower than that in air-passivated particles possessing iron-core/oxide-shell structure. Accordingly, oxidation resistance of the polymer-coated particles at an elevated temperature below $130^{circ}C$ in air was $10~40$ times higher than that of the air- passivated particles.