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
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In addition to having vast oil and gas resources, Iran has always had a special geographical position for the transfer of oil and gas from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia to
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As the world prepares to revive its economy throughout the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s energy shortages have transformed into another crisis to stave off economic growth. The reason for
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Reducing Iran’s role in the energy market and its foreign exchange earnings has always been one of the main goals of various sanctions after the revolution. Despite the United States withdrawal from
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The geopolitical capabilities of each country have always been one of the main sources of power in the world’s political and economic system. Iran’s presence in the heart of one of the
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The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover of the country marks the beginning of a new era in Afghanistan’s socio-political history. It is obvious that the countries of
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With its vast oil and gas resources in the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan has no problem supplying the oil and gas it needs, yet the supply of energy required by the Autonomous Republic
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In recent years, the problem of water scarcity has reached a critical stage in parts of Iran, and there have been numerous reports of growing tensions, clashes and protests over water in
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Biden‘s decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, as well as NATO’s decision to withdraw its troops from the country and capture most of Afghanistan’s cities by the Taliban, has made the
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In recent months, with the start of the Vienna talks between Iran and the United States, a new balance of power is expected to be seen in the region, following a possible
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Drone technology is more sophisticated than it sounds. Qualitatively, the technology required to build an unmanned drone, even the unarmed Predator, used in the Balkan War in the mid-1990s, is quite different
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