Iran’s Strategic Behaviour Against ISIS: Religio-Cultural Context of Shrines and Martyrdom

Abstract The killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020 again brought the religio-cultural significance of ‘martyrdom’ into limelight in Iran. He got recognized as the ‘Defender-Martyr of Holy Shrine’ given his role against ISIS in protecting the Shi’i holy shrines. This article analyses the relationship between ‘shrines and ‘martyrdom’ in Iran’s strategy against ISIS. It uses the strategic culture approach to understand Iran’s threat perception of ISIS and how the narratives of ‘defence of shrines’ and ‘martyrdom-seeking’ reinforce each other in Iran’s support to the ‘Defenders of Holy Shrines’. It analyses socialization in the Shi’i religious culture on the part of the Iranian policy elite, which influenced Iran’s strategic preferences against ISIS.