Shia culture of martyrdom key to understanding Iran, says Msgr. Nazir-Ali

Msgr. Michael Nazir-Ali, a member of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a former Anglican bishop and an expert in Islamic history, says Western governments misread Iran if they assume its theocratic regime will quickly capitulate under military pressure, because the country’s leaders are sustained by a Shia religious worldview that exalts suffering and martyrdom as supreme virtues. Western policymakers, he warned, must factor this “martyr complex” into their strategic calculations if they are to avoid repeating the mistakes of earlier Middle Eastern interventions.