Umud Shokri is a Washington-based Senior Foreign Policy and Energy Geopolitics advisor. Author of “US Energy Diplomacy in the Caspian Sea Basin: Changing Trends Since 2001”, he served as a Visiting Research Scholar in the Center for Energy Science and Policy (CESP) and the Schar, School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and advisor at Gulf State Analytics (GSA). In this role, he oversees work on managing the geopolitics of energy and climate change, ensuring a just transition for workers and communities, and equipping US foreign policy and the multilateral system to deal with climate change and the energy transition.
Umud holds a Ph.D. in International Relations. His primary research interest lies in energy diplomacy, energy transition, US energy policy, the geopolitics of energy, Iran-Turkey relations, Iran-Russia relations, the Caspian Sea region, Central Asia and the GCC. He has fifteen years of extensive professional experience in global energy market studies, energy security and geopolitical risk. He has published articles in various academic journals including Energy and Environment, Energy Intelligence, Middle East Policy, National Interest, Oil and Gas Journal, Springer, Palgrave Macmillan Publishing and appeared on the various media outlets, including Al Jazeera, SkyNewsArabia, TRT World, Deutsche Welle, Anews, BBC Persian, Iran Int TV, and several others.
The exhaustion of the air fleet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army and the lack of up-to-date weapons in air operations and reconnaissance in the IRGC Aerospace Force have encouraged these two forces to use drones more in recent years. Iran has increased sales of drone technology to countries outside the Middle East as it seeks to become a player in the international market. The New York Times writes:
Despite having the second largest natural gas reserves in the world, Iran is currently not a major player in the global energy market. Due to numerous sanctions, increasing domestic consumption and an inability to attract financial resources and technology needed to increase oil and gas production capacity pose serious risks to Iran’s energy security. While nuclear negotiations are continuing and the sanctions against Iran’s energy sector have not yet been
More
The exhaustion of the air fleet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army and the lack of up-to-date weapons in air operations and reconnaissance in the IRGC Aerospace Force have encouraged these
More
Despite having the second largest natural gas reserves in the world, Iran is currently not a major player in the global energy market. Due to numerous sanctions, increasing domestic consumption and an
More
The daily production of gasoline in Iran is about 100 million liters per day, while the average fuel consumption this year is 96 million liters per day. In the months of March
More
In recent weeks, after the suspension of the nuclear negotiations, many meetings between the heads of several countries have taken place. Last week, Riyadh was the venue for the Jeddah Security Summit,
More
Regionalism and the development of Iran’s relations with Russia and China are among the presidency’s priorities in foreign policy. In recent months, Ebrahim Raisi has visited Russia, Qatar, and Oman. It should
More
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted global oil trade and has given Iran the opportunity to increase exports to China, while Iran is still under US sanctions and has no immediate prospect
More
Despite its vast oil and gas resources, Iran has not been able to play a significant role in the energy market. Before the revolution, Iran had also planned to build a nuclear
More
In order to listen to the article, click on the audio clip below: The energy crisis and Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, along with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, have become
More
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing energy crisis in the European Union have prompted the bloc to take the issue of energy security seriously once again, focusing on renewable
More
By the year 2018, Turkey had already made noticeable progress in the area of combat drones, such as UCAVs, which were utilized in military operations by the Turkish Armed Forces. To illustrate,
More