Iranian media outlets reported a ring belonging to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was sold at a public auction for the equivalent of $16,000. It appears to be one of the rings worn by the head of the terrorist organization, who was killed in an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike in September.
The ring was sold for $16,000, with the proceeds to be transferred to the Lebanese people. The Iranian news agency IRNA reported in October that Iran's Ofogh TV network intended to sell Nasrallah's ring at a public auction, with the revenues meant to "go to the Lebanese people." Mojtaba Rahmandoost, a member of Iran's Shura Council, said he received the ring as a gift from Nasrallah in February 2014 and would put it up for public auction.
Wearing rings is an ancient custom in Shiite Islam. The ring is usually worn on the right hand. Among the pro-Iran axis, the rings worn by Qassem Soleimani, slain commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi are particularly well-known.
Soleimani was killed in January 2020. The ring was used to identify his body after the US strike. According to various reports, Raisi's body was also identified by the ring on his hand after his helicopter crashed. Similar rings are worn by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and senior members of pro-Iranian militias in Iraq. The ring apparently symbolizes, among other things, the connection between members of the axis.
A Lebanese cleric told the BBC's Arabic network that the ring is linked to several Islamic and Arab traditions. However, he notes that a person must not be attached to a stone out of a belief that it can harm or benefit them.
