ISIS Seeks to Redefine Global Conflict: How It Exploits Global Economic Tensions

ISIS is attempting to portray the U.S. economic crisis as part of a broader conspiracy aimed at weakening the global order and threatening Islamic values. This is according to an analysis published by the Islamic Movements Gateway website, commenting on an editorial featured in Al-Naba newspaper, issued on Thursday, April 17, 2025.

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The site’s review of the editorial highlights that ISIS’s rhetoric stands out through its exploitation of economic tensions—not merely as a political analysis, but as a redefinition of the conflict between Islam and the West as an existential battle that requires religious jihad against the “tyrants,” represented by the West, especially the United States.

The article uses this global crisis as a foundation for an extremist narrative designed to persuade the group’s followers that “fighting the West” is the only path to safeguarding the Islamic Ummah from civilizational collapse.

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The newspaper published a piece titled: “The American Tyrant: From Economic War to Global Chaos”, while Islamic Movements Gateway noted that ISIS is leveraging former President Donald Trump’s tariff policies as a propaganda tool to spread anti-Western, particularly anti-American, messages.

The article relies on global trade tensions and the American economic crisis to promote the idea that these policies are not merely economic measures, but part of a broader civilizational conflict between Islamic and Western civilizations, represented by the U.S. and Europe.

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According to the analysis, one of the core tactics of ISIS’s rhetoric is transforming American economic policy into a religious issue. The group does not stop at analyzing economic dimensions but reinterprets events through a radical religious lens, portraying U.S. economic policies not as administrative failures, but as manifestations of evil that must be fought.

This shift from economic to religious framing aims to justify violence and extremism as legitimate responses to what is perceived as global aggression by the “American tyrant.” Trump and his allies are depicted as the traditional enemies of Islam, and this religious framing lends ideological legitimacy to violent actions against them.

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The site explains that ISIS’s exploitation of global economic tensions serves a dual purpose: deepening the divide between Muslims and the outside world, and capitalizing on increasing polarization between East and West.

By presenting American economic policies as part of a grander scheme threatening the Muslim world, ISIS fosters a sense of urgency and anger among its followers, casting the conflict as an ongoing battle against the “tyrant,” which can only be resolved through violent resistance. Thus, economic analysis becomes part of a broader cosmic narrative in which Muslims are constantly portrayed as defending themselves against external threats, whether economic, military, or political.

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Finally, the site notes that ISIS’s discourse in the editorial goes beyond analyzing the economic aspects of the global crisis affecting the U.S. It weaponizes these economic downturns as a powerful propaganda tool, focusing on portraying them as direct consequences of the “American tyrant’s” policies, and turning them into vehicles for the ideological message that the West, led by the U.S., is responsible for global economic deterioration.

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