Cleric calls Hormuz ‘Moses’ staff,’ says it must not fall into enemy hands
A senior Iranian cleric described the Strait of Hormuz as Iran’s “staff of Moses,” saying Tehran must not allow its leverage over the waterway to fall into the hands of “enemies of Islam.”
Ahmad Mahmoudi, the Friday prayer leader of Isfahan, said during his sermon that “the clock and history do not go back,” adding that the United States had failed to achieve its aims through what he called the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have said this many times and we repeat it again: the Strait of Hormuz is the staff of Moses,” Mahmoudi said. “This Moses-like staff must not be handed to the enemies of Islam.”
Mahmoudi also accused Iran’s adversaries of trying to separate Lebanon's Hezbollah from the Islamic Republic, saying Tehran had shown “in words and action” that it would not allow that to happen.
He said Iran’s central command center Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters had formally warned that if Israel attacked Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, Iran would fire toward Israel in response.
“Forty-four years have passed since the formation of the resistance, and this path will continue,” Mahmoudi said. “We will not back down.”
