Iran’s Energy Transition Under Constraint
This book offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary account of Iran’s changing energy landscape and the closely connected challenges of governance, sustainable development, and geopolitics. Rather than examining these issues in isolation, it brings together technical, socioeconomic, institutional, and environmental perspectives. The book explores the contrast between Iran’s vast hydrocarbon wealth and its deepening energy crisis, examining the burden of energy subsidies, the slow expansion of renewable energy, and the growing pressures created by water scarcity and climate change. It also proposes practical reform strategies that recognize both domestic institutional constraints and external political and economic pressures.
The analysis extends beyond Iran’s borders to consider the strategic importance of regional energy chokepoints and transportation corridors. Particular attention is given to the Strait of Hormuz, both as a vital artery for global energy trade and as a source of geopolitical leverage and vulnerability. The book also examines how emerging connectivity projects—including the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), the International North–South Transport Corridor, and the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor—could reshape regional trade, energy transit, and Iran’s position within evolving Eurasian supply chains.
Written for academics, policymakers, industry specialists, investors, and practitioners, the book combines critical policy analysis, technical assessment, and scenario-based research to clarify the choices facing Iran and their consequences for the wider region. Amid sanctions, geopolitical tensions, vulnerable infrastructure, and mounting domestic shortages, Iran’s energy transition is far more than a technological or environmental challenge: it is a test of the country’s economic resilience, institutional capacity, and regional strategy. By tracing the connections among domestic reform, energy security, environmental sustainability, transit diplomacy, and regional cooperation, the book fills an important gap in the literature and provides a timely guide to Iran’s evolving place in regional and global energy affairs.
Dr. Umud Shokri is a Washington, D.C.-based energy strategist, geopolitical analyst, and foreign policy advisor with more than 25 years of experience spanning global energy markets, energy security, international relations, climate policy, and sustainable development. He currently serves as a Senior Visiting Fellow at George Mason University and is the author of U.S. Energy Diplomacy in the Caspian Sea Basin: Changing Trends Since 2001. In 2024, he was selected as a U.S. Department of State Black Sea Fellow, with mentoring support from the Middle East Institute. His fellowship research examined Azerbaijan’s energy transition and COP29, highlighting the growing importance of the Black Sea and Caspian regions to global climate and sustainability efforts.
A widely published scholar and frequent international media commentator, Dr. Shokri’s analysis has been featured in Bloomberg, The New York Times, the Financial Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Al Jazeera, and other leading news organizations. He provides policy-focused analysis of the geopolitical, economic, and security dimensions of the global energy transition. His research covers U.S. energy diplomacy, Iran, the Caspian region, Central Asia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council states, while his broader expertise includes renewable energy integration, nuclear power, climate change, the energy–water–food nexus, and sustainable urban development.
A central theme of his work is the relationship between strategic infrastructure, state power, and regional stability. He examines the security of pipelines, electricity grids, ports, energy facilities, and maritime trade routes, with particular attention to critical chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, and the Suez Canal. His research also explores the growing importance of transportation and energy corridors connecting the Gulf, the Caspian region, Central Asia, and Europe, as well as the risks posed by conflict, sanctions, infrastructure disruption, and shifting regional alliances.
By connecting academic research with practical policy analysis, Dr. Shokri provides strategic insights for governments, international institutions, investors, and energy industry leaders navigating geopolitical uncertainty and the transition toward cleaner, more secure, and more resilient energy systems. His work emphasizes that the energy transition is not simply a technological or environmental process but also a fundamental transformation of economic power, national security, regional cooperation, and global diplomacy.