The Need to Understand IRAN's Strategic Stance in Light of the Civilizational Values

This study has been conducted subsequent to the escalated tension between Iran and America in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf due to the martyrdom of General Qasem Soleimani, the chief commander of the Quds Corps, and Iran’s retaliatory attacks by launching precision missiles on American bases and Donald Trump’s threat to attack 52 Iranian cultural sites. The intensity and scale of the measures taken and declared to be taken, all unprecedented since World War II, almost put the region on the brink of a full-scale war with drastic consequences for both sides. Donald Trump, on January 4th, 2020, threatened to target fifty-two important cultural sites within the Iranian territory if Iran responded to the killing of the Iranian commander. This study was conducted in those circumstances to review the strategic stance of Iran with the emphasis on the cultural and civilization straits of the country. The main question is why the US president threatened to attack Iranian cultural sites. A complementary question to be perused was why, despite the US’s strong military power, the US authorities are always complaining about the Iranian influence in the region. This study argues that the civilizational and cultural heritage of Iran are its strategic assets which both initiates and strengthens Iran’s soft power in the region. Therefore, the threat posed by president Trump to attack Iranian cultural sites and his complaining about Iranian influence in the region, altogether, could better be understood in light of the strategic assets that Iran possesses. The civilizational and cultural assets of Iran as its strategic advantages, having been achieved through centuries dating back to the early days of Persian Empire almost three thousand years ago, have accumulated a virtual and material capital that has provided Iran with a very rich soft power capacity as well as an efficient soft power capability resulting in a solidified stance for Iran in the Middle East region.