Energy Strategy & Foreign Policy

Sanctions have had a devastating impact on Iran’s oil production and exports, preventing much-needed investment in the country’s ageing fields and barring it from legally exporting crude oil to global customers. Using a range of evasion tactics, however, Iran has succeeded in circumventing sanctions and maintaining a steady — albeit …

  Iran’s economy, which is heavily dependent on oil exports, has not been able to benefit from oil exports in recent years due to U.S. sanctions, the country’s foreign exchange earnings have declined. In spite of this, the Iranian government has tried to provide the necessary financial resources for the …

Will the ongoing ‘ships war’ between Iran and Israel escalate? The Iran-Israel conflict has its own identity that goes beyond the geopolitical considerations of the Middle East. The Iran-Israel dispute is more ideological; that is, this confrontation has nothing to do with the national interests of the two countries or …

It is clear that by the end of this year, the last year of the Sixth Development Plan, Iran will have failed to implement most of the goals of this program. Sanctions, domestic mismanagement and foreign policy problems have prevented Iran from attracting the necessary capital and technology by increasing …

Thanks to Qatar’s increased production of helium and massive reserves in the North Dome field, the country is now positioned to quickly increase its share in the helium export market. Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe. An inert gas, it is mainly used to cool medical diagnostic equipment …

2020 has been a difficult year for the Gulf. All members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, heavily reliant on oil, have been severely impacted by the economic turmoil of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For no country is this more important than Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, which depends …

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent years. Both countries pursue conflicting interests in particular issues in the region with a specific ideology in foreign policy. The two countries are rivals not only in the Islamic world and the region, but also in OPEC and the energy market …

Aiming to force the Iranian regime to negotiate its regional policies, the United States withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018 and imposed tough sanctions on the country. This “maximum pressure campaign” has certainly put significant economic pressure on Iran — especially now as it is …

Since the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 and the “maximum pressure” strategy of reimposing crippling sanctions, Iran has abandoned its key commitments, including the resumption of uranium enrichment. These moves have been accompanied by increasing ballistic missile tests, mysterious attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, increased meddling in conflicts …

The geopolitical and geo-economic impact of the three-decades-old Karabakh conflict on the stability of the broader South Caucasus is clear and broadly recognized. Given the importance of the South Caucasus as a transcontinental energy corridor, any intraregional instability or periodic flare-ups in violence there pose countless risks to the energy …