DUBAI (Reuters) - The Twitter account of Iran’s Supreme Leader on Friday carried the image of a golfer resembling former President Donald Trump apparently being targeted by a drone, vowing revenge over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. drone attack.
The post carried the text of remarks by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in December, in which he said “Revenge is certain”, renewing a vow of vengeance ahead of the first anniversary of the killing of top military commander General Qassem Soleimani in the attack in Iraq.
“Those who ordered the murder of General Soleimani as well as those who carried this out should be punished. This revenge will certainly happen at the right time,” Khamenei tweeted on December 16, without naming Trump, who had ordered the strike.
Earlier this month, Twitter removed a tweet by Khamenei in which he said U.S. and British-made vaccines were unreliable and may be intended to “contaminate other nations”. The platform said the tweet violated its rules against misinformation.
There was no apparent immediate action by Twitter over the Persian-language tweet on Friday by Khamenei, Iran's highest authority. (here)
Tensions rapidly grew between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when Trump exited a 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers that sought to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme. Washington reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
Iran called for action and “not just words” shortly after Joe Biden was sworn in as U.S. president on Wednesday. Biden has said Washington will rejoin the nuclear deal if Iran resumes strict compliance.
Twitter takes 17 hours to mobilize after tweet threatening Trump
By Lia Eustachewich
January 22, 2021 | NY POST
It took Twitter 17 hours to suspend an account bearing the name of Iran leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for posting a death threat to former President Trump.
The hateful tweet came from @khamenei_site on Thursday — an account later determined to be bogus — and depicted the likeness of Trump on the golf course being targeted by a drone flying overhead.
“Revenge is inevitable,” said the post, translated from Farsi.
By mid-Friday morning, @khamenei_site was suspended for violating Twitter rules, with the social media giant later clarifying that the account was fake.
Several Twitter accounts under Khamenei’s name are currently active — and none are verified.
The post came a little more than a year after Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, was killed in a US airstrike ordered by the Trump administration.
The tweet from the yanked account included the same language found in a Dec. 16 tweet from @khamenei_ir, which appears to be the leader’s official account.
“Those who ordered the murder of General Soleimani as well as those who carried this out should be punished,” the post said. “This revenge will certainly happen at the right time.”
Earlier this month, Twitter blocked a tweet from the Khamenei account that cast doubt on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and called the ones made in the US and UK “completely untrustworthy.”
Twitter took the step earlier this month, following the Capitol riot, of banning Trump’s account from the platform “permanently” because of how his posts were “being received and interpreted on and off Twitter.”
The tweets from Trump that triggered the ban were an announcement that he would not be attending President Biden’s inauguration, and another saying, “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
“[W]e have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service,” Twitter said in a statement at the time.
In recent days, the platform has also vowed a larger “global” crackdown on conspiracy theorist accounts following the Jan. 6 siege.
No comments:
Post a Comment