This dyad belongs to the conflict Iran: Islamic State
Summary of conflict Iran: Islamic State
The territorial conflict between the Government of Iran and the Islamic State (IS) was actualized in August 2016, when Iranian security forces killed four members of an IS cell close to the Iran-Iraq border. There had been considerable animosity between the Sunni extremist ISand the Shia-dominated Iran before; Government of Iran has for example provided military support to the Government of Syria and Hezbollah, two actors actively fighting against IS. However, toppling the Shia-led regime in Iran was to ISa goal in itself.
The minor clashes between Iranian security forces and IS in 2016 failed to reach the 25 battle-related deaths threshold. However, on 7 June 2017 IS successfully mounted a large-scale attack in the Iranian capital Teheran. Armed with assault rifles and suicide vests, IS militants attacked the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, resulting in the deaths of five attackers and 18 civilians. Following the Teheran attacks, Iran cracked down on other IS cells in the country.
Background to the Conflict
After IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the “Caliphate” in June 2014, the Shia-dominated Iran positioned itself as one of the primary opponents of the Sunni extremist group. However, from Iran’s perspective, the efforts to support actors fighting against IS has been more a question of regional power dynamics than religious differences. For example, even before IS became one of the primary actors in the civil war in Syria, Government of Iran was deeply invested in supporting the Syrian government and its leader Bashar al-Assad. As the conflict in Syria progressed, the Government of Iran provided vital resources and training to the Syrian troops fighting both IS and other anti-regime forces; similarly, Iran has provided considerable support to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, another of al-Assad’s key allies. Furthermore, Iran was the first country to pledge its support to the Government of Iraq after the devastating offensive launched by IS in the summer of 2014. Like in Syria, Iran’s primary contribution was to train and equip Shia militias used by the Government of Iraq to fight against IS.
However, unlike in many of the states in the region (such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon), IS has not been able to establish any sustainable and permanent presence in Iran. As such, the rivalry between Iran and IS was for many years manly manifested as a form of proxy conflict. Furthermore, anti-Iranian rhetoric has been a central tenant in IS’ extremist narrative, aimed at stoking sectarian animosity. As such, from IS’ perspective, Iran has been a potential target of monumental symbolic importance; in IS’ view, the Iranian regime was a symbol of apostasy given Iran’s Shia orientation.
IS Infiltration and the June Teheran Attacks
In August and September 2016, Iranian security forces cracked down on several IS cells that had infiltrated the country via the border with Iraq. For example, a suspect IS safe house was uncovered in August, and four militants were killed in Kermanshah province. In September, an IS commander called Abu Asha al-Kurdi, believed to previously have been based in Mosul, was killed alongside several other militants. It has been suggested that al-Kurdi was about to be announces as the IS emir Iran, had he not been killed. The confrontations between IS and the Government of Iran in 2016 were relatively minor, and the conflict did not exceed the 25-battle related deaths threshold. In March 2017, IS released its first ever Persian-language video, where it issued threats against the Shia-dominated Iran, but also made appeals to the Iranian Sunni Muslim minority to join its cause.
On 7 June 2017, IS mounted a successful attack in central Teheran, targeting the Islamic Consultative Assembly (sometimes called the “Iranian Parliament”) and the Mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Three IS militants forced their way into the Consultative Assembly, where they managed to cause considerable damage before being killed by soldiers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The remaining two attackers targeted the mausoleum, successfully detonating a suicide bomb; in total, the attacks led to the death of all five attackers and 18 civilians. It was later suggested that the at least four of the attackers came from Iran’s Kermanshah province, and that all of them had considerable combat experience from fighting in Mosul and Raqqa.
In the aftermath of the attack, IS put considerable energy into covering the attack in its various propaganda outlets, hailing the slain attackers as the first of many “IS Battalions” that would be deployed in Iran. However, the Iranian government’s response to the Teheran attacks was swift, and several suspected IS militants were killed or arrested in subsequent crackdowns. The IRGC also launched several medium-range missiles against IS target in Syria’s Dayr az-Zawr Governorate in retaliation for the attacks. Despite IS’ threats of more attacks, 2017 saw no further large-scale attacks on Iranian soil. It also remains uncertain whether the group will be able to pose a significant threat on Iranian soil in the future, given the relative decline of IS’ power in the region.
