Strategic diplomacy by first Islamic state (8)
I believe the answer is:
tactical
'strategic' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'diplomacy by first islamic state' is the wordplay.
'diplomacy' becomes 'tact' (I've seen this before).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'first' suggests taking the first letters.
'state' becomes 'cal' (I've seen this in other clues**).
The first letter of 'islamic' is 'i'.
'tact'+'i'+'cal'='TACTICAL'
(Other definitions for tactical that I've seen before include "Done to support skilful planning" , "Strategic" , "Of carefully planned actions to achieve ends" , "Clever - prudent" , "Relating to manoeuvres in the presence of the enemy" .)