Brenda Shaffer: Non-Persian Ethnic Minorities in Iran May Be Ripe for Revolt

Brenda Shaffer in Middle East Forum

Brenda Shaffer, Senior Advisor for Energy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), spoke to a May 21 Middle East Forum webinar (video) about Iran's multi-ethnic minorities.

According to Shaffer, the size of non-Persian ethnic minorities in Iran is larger than commonly estimated by Western sources, which have relied on "old versions of the CIA Fact Book," which has been "debunked." In fact, Iranian government data mined by Shaffer for her FDD monograph, Iran Is More than Persia, shows that these minorities, including Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baluchs, Lurs, and Ahwazi Arabs, comprise "over half of the population of Iran." According to the Iranian government's own internal polling data, some 40% of the population claims to be not fully fluent in the Persian language (Farsi).

New regional gas market dynamics under LNG expansion and the shale gas revolution

Brenda Shaffer Speaking at the Atlantic Council’s IN TURKEY Program Conference

Prof. Brenda Shaffer, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center agreed with Ali Shahbazov that Europe is going to need more gas in the future. Shaffer argued that while there is a lot of rhetoric about competition between projects, there is room for much more gas in Europe, so it isn’t really a zero-sum game. In this context, Shaffer argued that Turkey plays an important role as a transit country for gas, but not as a gas hub.  She said gas hubs also carry risk with them, while being a transit country brings the same geopolitical and economic clout.

The Geopolitics of Energy in the 21st Century, Johns Hopkins SAIS

Bologna Institute for Policy Research, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Nord Stream 2: What the US and Europe Can and Should Do, Atlantic Council

Panel I: View from the US

Dr. Agnia Grigas Senior Fellow, Eurasia Center Atlantic Council

Mr. Douglas Hengel Senior Fellow; Professional Lecturer, Energy, Resources, and Environment Program, School of Advanced International Studies German Marshall Fund of the United States; Johns Hopkins University

Ms. Sandra Oudkirk Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy, Bureau of Energy Resources US Department of State

Dr. Brenda Shaffer Senior Fellow, Global Energy Center Atlantic Council

Moderated by: Ambassador Richard Morningstar (Ret.) Founding Director and Chairman, Global Energy Center Atlantic Council

Energy and INsecurity: Iran, Middle East, Russia and Eurasia, Georgetown Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies

The Iranian Nuclear Challenge, Harvard Kennedy School

Speakers: Ashton Carter, Henry Sokolski, Brenda Shaffer. Moderator: Graham Allison