Hawzah News Agency- The Friday prayer leader of Ardabil, Hojatoleslam Seyyed Hassan Ameli, told worshippers that Western economic, naval, and aerial blockades intended to bring Iranians into the streets instead filled European and American streets with angry protesters — and that European governments are now pressuring US President Donald Trump to end the war on Iran.
Strait of Hormuz: Iran's Navy Raises the Cost of Blockade
Hojatoleslam Ameli praised the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy for preventing commercial and oil tankers from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that a purely defensive posture against the blockade harms Iran and that "Iran must raise the cost of this siege for America so it understands that this fence harms America, Europe, and the global economy more than it harms Iran. The Navy's recent actions truly raised the cost."
He said the US-led bloc has three options, none sustainable:
- Continue the blockade without war — Ameli argued this is impossible because "Iran has sharply raised the cost of the blockade for them. Last week the situation in European countries collapsed. Winter is still ahead, and terrible days await them. Many of their factories obtain raw materials through the Strait of Hormuz; all are paralyzed. Their agriculture depends on fertilizer exported through the Strait, and no fertilizer is being exported now. Refineries have been shut down, and workers are being laid off en masse." He added that continued blockade would also cost Trump in upcoming US elections — "an unbearable cost."
- War and attack to reopen the Strait — Hojatoleslam Ameli said this "has not the slightest chance of success," noting that the 12-day war and the Ramadan war did not achieve US-Israeli objectives. "An attack has only one effect: it multiplies the nationalist, patriotic, and heroic-religious spirit of Iranians several times over, and resilience rises." He pointed to increasingly large rallies, saying US threats — including talk of deploying the "mother bomb" — have "brought people into the field rather than frightening them away."
- Submission to Iran's conditions — Hojatoleslam Ameli called this "the completely reasonable option, and sooner or later America will reach this point." He conditioned it on "greater resistance by our nation against threats, demands, pressure, and sanctions," and warned that "some godless, traitorous, and corrupt individuals are exploiting the people's hardship."
'We Are Entirely on the Defensive'
Hojatoleslam Ameli said Iran did not start the war and is acting in self-defense: "Whatever we do to break the siege is a defensive move, not an offensive or preemptive one. The siege must be broken, and Iran's use of any lever in this regard is completely legitimate because it has the title of defense. Unless the cost is raised, the enemy will not stop its mischief. Preventing ship traffic and striking violating ships is completely legitimate and defensible."
He said the enemy believes sustained naval blockade can bring Iran to its knees, and that "we must take this weapon from the enemy and not let the blockade continue." He thanked God that oil, gas, and fertilizer prices have soared, showing "the entire world economy is in Iran's hands," adding that "with such power we should not fear the enemy's threats."
He argued the real enemy is not America but the Israeli regime, which has "made America its plaything and tool." He asserted that "whenever Trump wants to make an agreement, Mossad immediately publishes new Epstein images — they have truly taken this man hostage." He also noted Trump sent intermediaries — Qatar, Pakistan, and Russia — to Iran last week, convinced he would lose the elections, and that the mediation was not to serve Iran but "so his donkey can cross the bridge in the elections and oil prices fall." He said Iranian officials stood united and refused the mediation because "they were certain Trump had no real intention to negotiate, since the Zionists won't allow it." He said Iran declared seven rational, natural conditions, and if implemented, it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days; the US rejection proved "they are not genuine about negotiations," as in the past when they attacked Iran during talks.
US Protests and Europe's Unrest
Hojatoleslam Ameli said "the largest march in America against Trump" was held, with demonstrators declaring "we don't want war, the Iran war must stop" and "we don't want a king," and that the White House and Trump's home were surrounded.
He described unrest across Europe — the UK, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, France, Brazil, Albania, Germany, Spain, and Greece— with shops looted, museums burned, the clock tower and large city hall building in Limoges toppled and burned, presidential palaces, cars, and office windows attacked, and security forces in some places joining protesters. "All this is the result of Trump's foolishness; he underestimated the attack on Iran," he said, invoking a Quranic verse about the people of Ad destroyed by a barren wind: "It spared nothing it came upon but reduced it to rotten dust."
He cited a European Commission announcement that the Iran war has so far cost the European economy $112 billion. "We are not happy about it, but this is the law of creation: whatever they inflicted on us during a 47-year sanctions regime is being repaid all at once."
He criticized French President Emmanuel Macron's speech after the unrest, quoting him as saying "passages and shops were looted, large public buildings were attacked, squares and municipal buildings were destroyed, hundreds of police were wounded... how can a Frenchman treat France this way?" Hojatoleslam Ameli called Macron "foolish and full of hatred," saying "the same France that wanted to trigger the snapback mechanism against us is now caught in God's trigger."
He described a dispute between Macron and Trump, with Trump attributing France's crisis to Muslim immigration and Macron responding that the crisis stems from "your war with Iran... the closure of the Strait of Hormuz... your war created the price rises, not immigrants."
Hojatoleslam Ameli said European leaders are now pressuring Trump to end the war, citing Poland's prime minister saying "the time has come to say loudly that Trump is responsible for fuel prices." He said the probability of war even after US elections is "very weak," unless Netanyahu and Mossad "deceive Trump again with artificial hope."
Western Democracy and Human Rights
Hojatoleslam Ameli said the severity of European police violence, especially in France, is "completely terrifying — not a trace of democracy, human rights, or republicanism; it is all medieval violence." He said these concepts are "for their enemies and for toppling legitimate governments that do not align with their interests."
He argued Iran is now in a position where "Russia needs Iran, China needs Iran, America needs Iran, Europe needs Iran — Iran is certainly the fourth power in the world." He said small countries now seek Iran as a haven, whereas previously "they said Iran has no weight." He recalled that Obama wrote to "our martyred Leader" saying that "after much research I concluded that in managing the Middle East we need you" — "meaning America took refuge in Iran." He contrasted this with the Qajar-era Nasser al-Din Shah, who could not travel north without Russian objection or south without British objection: "Now Iran tells America why did you come this way and expels it from the region."
Palestine Flags at European Protests
Ameli noted that although European protests were over livelihoods and high prices, "all of them, without exception, came out with the Palestinian flag, and most of their slogans supported Palestine." He said this was prominent in Berlin, noting Germany supports Zionist crimes more than any country after the US, and that the German chancellor openly supported the US-Israeli attack on Iran, saying "we waited years for this dirty act; Israel fulfilled our wish."
He also described protests in Argentina — "the cradle of Zionists" — where people came out with Palestinian flags, "inflicting a great wound on the hearts of Argentina's rulers and Israel."
Netanyahu's 'Humiliation'
Hojatoleslam Ameli said Netanyahu has made boasts against Iran to win election votes and hide "the humiliation he foolishly created for Israel," but told him “Your humiliation cannot be cured and cannot be hidden with speeches." He asked why Netanyahu traveled secretly to the UAE and "fear[ed] the sky of every country in the region," ultimately flying from Kazakhstan's airspace toward the UAE. He criticized Azerbaijan's government for inviting the Israeli president to Baku despite knowing "he assassinated our Leader, killed our children, martyred our commanders, and martyred more than four thousand of our civilian citizens, and his hands are stained with the blood of eighty thousand Muslims in Gaza." He noted the Israeli president could not fly via Turkey, the Persian Gulf, Yemen, or Central Asia, and was ultimately hidden among passengers on an Azerbaijan Airlines flight named "Shusha," passing through Turkish airspace — "can a greater humiliation be imagined?" He called the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Netanyahu "the highest humiliation," saying "Zionism has never been so hated."
Final Remarks
Hojatoleslam Ameli said Israel and Israelis have seen humiliation under Netanyahu "as in no other government," and that "Trump's humiliation is worse than Netanyahu's." He asserted that during the Iranian president's visit to the US, the head of a Red Crescent society from an Arab country told the Iranian delegation that "from just one American base we pulled twenty American bodies out from under the rubble, and the wounded were very many."
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