Twitter Bans Account Linked to Iranian Leader Due to Video Threatening Trump

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WASHINGTON

Twitter said on Saturday that it had permanently suspended an account linked to Iran’s supreme leader who posted a video calling for revenge for the assassination of a top general against former U.S. President Donald Trump.

“The account in question has been permanently suspended for violating our prohibition avoidance policy,” a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.

The account, @KhameneiSite, this week posted an animated video showing an unmanned aircraft targeting Trump, who ordered a drone strike in Baghdad two years ago that killed the top Iranian commander and General Qassem Soleimani.

The main accounts of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remain active in various languages. Last year, another similar account was suspended by Twitter because of a post that also appeared to refer to revenge against Trump.

The recent video, titled “Revenge is Definite,” was also posted on Khamenei’s official website.

According to Twitter, the company’s top priority is keeping people safe and protecting the health of conversations on the platform.

The social media giant said it has clear policies about abusive behavior and will take action when violations are identified.

As head of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Soleimani was the architect of its strategy in the Middle East.

FILE – The Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center, will attend a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 18, 2016.

He and his Iraqi lieutenant were killed by a U.S. drone strike outside Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020.

Khamenei has repeatedly promised to avenge his death.

On January 3, the second anniversary of the strike, supreme leader and ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi once again threatened the US with retaliation.

Trump supporters regularly criticize the Republican billionaire’s ban from Twitter, stressing that accounts of some leaders considered authoritarian by the United States are allowed to post on the platform.

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