انرژی و اقتصاد

Policy Analysis on انرژی و اقتصاد

France's President Macron greets the UAE's President Mohamed bin Zayed at the 2026 G-7 summit - source: Reuters

An Emerging International Partnership Is Succeeding

By incorporating Ukraine and other like-minded states from the Middle East and Asia, the G7 Summit highlighted the net progress made on countering Iranian, Russian, and Chinese threats to the American-led global security and economic system.

۲۴ ژوئن ۲۰۲۶

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James Jeffrey

Photo of workers at a natural gas pipeline in Syria.

Maps & Graphics

Brief Analysis

Syria’s Pipeline Dream Meets Hard Realities

Asian market realities and the ongoing risks to energy investments inside Syria may put a damper on any large-scale infrastructure plans, though Damascus can better its prospects through further stabilization and reform efforts.

۱۰ ژوئن ۲۰۲۶

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Andrew J. Tabler

Articles & Testimony

How the Looming Houthi Threat Could Turn the Iran War

Whether the U.S. truce with Iran breaks down or winds up rewarding the regime, the previously restrained Houthis may take it as a signal to resume their own aggression.

۹ ژوئن ۲۰۲۶

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April Longley Alley

Brief Analysis

Rethinking Foreign Assistance Cuts That Endanger U.S. Interests

Despite President Trump’s transformative goals in the Middle East and the ongoing need for American help in weathering multiple regional crises, the new budget request doubles down on a range of problematic funding cuts.

۸ ژوئن ۲۰۲۶

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Alina Romanowski
Ben Fishman
Michael Jacobson

Photo of Syrians holding a memorial protest for family members killed by the former Assad regime.

Brief Analysis

Syria’s Protest Wave: A Governance Stress Test

Washington should treat the recent public discontent not as a sign that Syria’s transition is failing, but as an opportunity to help ensure that Damascus does not repeat the mistakes of previous governments.

۳ ژوئن ۲۰۲۶

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Aaron Y. Zelin

Brief Analysis

Countering Iran’s Latest “Smart Control” Gambit in the Strait of Hormuz

Tehran is hoping that its Persian Gulf Strait Authority will establish “facts on the ground” and give it leverage at the negotiating table, so Washington and its partners need to respond right away with a suite of military, economic, and diplomatic countermeasures.

۳ ژوئن ۲۰۲۶

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Farzin Nadimi

Oil wells sit idle in Syria - source: Syrian Petroleum Company

Brief Analysis

The Politics Blocking Syria’s Energy Recovery

Washington’s message to Syrian officials should be simple: foreign energy capital is unlikely to flow quickly as long as the outside world sees their government as an opaque regime with unclear authority, factional infighting, uncertain legal protections, and unresolved military tensions with powerful neighbors.

۲۷ مه ۲۰۲۶

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Andrew J. Tabler

A bread seller in Cairo walks past a sign promoting President Sisi - source: Reuters

Articles & Testimony

Is Egypt the Biggest Loser of the Iran War?

Cairo’s economic mismanagement has increased the country’s reliance on Gulf largesse, but that spigot may soon run dry for diplomatic and financial reasons.

۱۸ مه ۲۰۲۶

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David Schenker

Chinese president Xi walks with U.S. president Trump in Beijing in 2017 - source: Reuters

Brief Analysis

Trump’s China Trip: Implications for the Middle East and Beyond

The first presidential visit to China in nearly a decade will cover trade, technology, and a range of other bilateral topics, including frank conversations on Middle East subjects such as Beijing’s support to Iran and the wider global repercussions of the Strait of Hormuz crisis.

۱۳ مه ۲۰۲۶

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Grant Rumley
Henry Tugendhat
Elizabeth Dent
Anna Borshchevskaya
Souhire Medini

Screenshot from MarineTraffic showing the route of the Idemitsu Maru.

Maps & Graphics

Brief Analysis

Why Iran’s Navigational Order Will Be Difficult to Overturn

Tehran has upended traditional maritime arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz and remains in the driver’s seat despite U.S. pressure, so authorities cannot expect to reverse this shift quickly even if the war ends soon.

۱ مه ۲۰۲۶

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Noam Raydan

Iranians shop in a Tehran market ahead of Nowruz celelbrations in 2024 - source: Reuters

Articles & Testimony

Self-Destruct Mode: Why Government Incompetence Means Even Immediate Peace with the U.S. Would Not Save Iran

Tehran’s ongoing failures in critical areas such as fiscal responsibility, energy, and infrastructure repair are doing even more damage to the country’s economic position than the war itself.

۳۰ آوریل ۲۰۲۶

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Patrick Clawson

A British sailor salutes the Royal Navy flag - source: Department of Defense

Brief Analysis

Encouraging European Military Efforts to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Although the new European-led military initiative signals a divergence from the current U.S. approach, Washington could still harness Paris and London’s ability to mobilize international action on the shared goal of preventing Tehran from flexing its leverage over global energy markets.

۲۴ آوریل ۲۰۲۶

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Souhire Medini

Brief Analysis

Jordan’s Wartime Balancing Act

The economic, political, and diplomatic fallout of the Iran crisis is bending the kingdom in multiple directions, but Washington can do much to ease the domestic stress, avoid bilateral friction, and address Amman’s growing rift with Israel.

۱۵ آوریل ۲۰۲۶

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Ghaith al-Omari
David Schenker

Brief Analysis

Egypt’s Gulf-Iran Dilemma

Cairo has put a premium on de-escalation in order to end the war as soon as possible and lessen the economic and energy shocks afterward, but this approach could backfire with its longtime benefactors in the Gulf states.

۱۵ آوریل ۲۰۲۶

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Ben Fishman

A man walks by a mural of international currencies

Articles & Testimony

How the Iran War Will Upend the Global Economy

Beyond the widely discussed risk of energy shocks, the war also seems likely to spark a prolonged debt crisis, especially for the world’s poorest nations.

۸ آوریل ۲۰۲۶

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Henry Tugendhat

Articles & Testimony

War with Iran Tests Gulf-US Economic Model

The longstanding balance of Gulf security—in which states quietly maintained ties with Tehran while relying on Washington as the ultimate guarantor—is now under strain, making the future of their investment flows into the United States difficult to judge.

۶ آوریل ۲۰۲۶

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Simon Henderson

Brief Analysis

The Houthis Join the War

Why did the group strike now, what might they do next, and how could it affect the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran?

۱ آوریل ۲۰۲۶

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April Longley Alley

A solar field in Morocco - source: Reuters

Brief Analysis

The Iran War’s Reverberations in North Africa

The crisis will challenge economic and political stability in the Maghreb countries, but they will also have opportunities—with Washington’s help—to fortify their prewar progress by filling gaps in global energy markets and other key sectors affected by the war.

۳۱ مارس ۲۰۲۶

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Sabina Henneberg

Maps & Graphics

Brief Analysis

Iran’s Force Multiplier: Tracking the War’s Maritime and Energy Effects

If Washington wants to calm the markets and reach its other energy objectives more quickly, it will have to find a way of de-escalating a shipping crisis that Tehran is clearly taking advantage of in the Strait of Hormuz and beyond.

۲۳ مارس ۲۰۲۶

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Noam Raydan

USS Boxer leads U.S. Navy ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz - source: Department of Defense

Brief Analysis

Military Options for Reopening the Strait of Hormuz: Limitations and Imperatives

Loosening Tehran’s grip on the strait and its disruption of the global economy would entail not only reducing threats to navigation, but also increasing pressure on the Iranian economy in order to deter further attacks and create leverage for diplomacy.

۲۳ مارس ۲۰۲۶

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Michael Eisenstadt
Assaf Orion

Supported by the

Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy

The Washington Institute's Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy embodies the Institute's long-term research focus on the conservative Arab Gulf states -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman -- and the key role these countries play collectively as a primary source of the world's oil and natural gas.

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