The Role of Cognitive Warfare in Modern Military Strategies in Iran: From Battlefield Combat to the Battle of Narratives

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the role of cognitive warfare in the modern military strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and to investigate the transition from battlefield combat to the battle of narratives. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach and the thematic analysis method. Professors of defense and strategic studies, cognitive warfare analysts in security think tanks, and specialists in political communication and social psychology were considered the statistical population and research experts. The sampling method was snowball sampling, and the researcher reached theoretical saturation through semi-structured interviews with 16 experts. Following open, axial, and selective coding, the findings indicated that Iran’s defense doctrine has undergone a paradigmatic transformation and is shaped by six main themes: “transformation of doctrine and the nature of the battlefield,” “counterstrategies and social resilience,” “the ecosystem of actors and content production,” “institutional governance and command integration,” “emerging threats and emergent technologies,” and “capacity assessment and indigenization of knowledge.” This means that national security is no longer merely physical; rather, it is grounded in the management of meaning, intelligent monitoring of public opinion, the use of digital elites, and confrontation with artificial intelligence threats. In addition, challenges such as interinstitutional lack of coordination, the shortage of indigenous models, and weaknesses in the quantitative measurement of effectiveness were identified as implementation barriers. The final conclusion indicates that success in the battle of narratives requires the establishment of unified cognitive command headquarters, the enhancement of citizens’ media literacy, and a transition from qualitative judgments to data-driven and quantitative evaluations in order to strengthen national resilience against hybrid warfare.