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.