TEHRAN -- The American
microblogging and social networking service Twitter has banned an account linked to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei over the publication of an animation about the U.S. assassination of Iran’s legendary anti-terror commander Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
A Twitter spokesperson told AFP on Saturday that the account, @KhameneiSite, “has been permanently suspended” for what he called “violating our ban evasion policy.”
The measure came after the account shared an animated video about Iran’s pledge of avenging the blood of the highly charismatic commander, who was assassinated in January 2020 at the order of then president Donald Trump.
This is not the first time that the West’s social media platforms censor content related to the top anti-terror commander.
Since the terrorist act, Instagram and its parent company Meta Platforms Inc, formerly Facebook, have been removing written material as well as photos related to General Soleimani in a widespread online censorship.
Under Trump’s order, the U.S. military conducted an airstrike on January 3, 2020, targeting General Soleimani at Baghdad airport. The attack also martyred the general’s companions, including Deputy Commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Both commanders were highly popular because of the key role they played in eliminating the U.S.-sponsored Daesh terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
Iran called General Soleimani’s assassination “state terrorism” and vowed to put an end to the U.S. military’s presence in the region as the ultimate act of revenge.
In its “first slap”, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched a volley of ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq’s western province of Anbar and another airbase in Erbil on January 8, 2020, as a result of which 110 U.S. troops were diagnosed with “traumatic brain injuries”.