The social media platform X on Monday suspended a new account linked to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which shared messages in Hebrew.
Early Monday, a brief note on the suspended account stated, “X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules.”
The suspension occurred following Israel’s first open airstrikes against Iran, in response to a ballistic missile attack by Iran against Israel on Oct. 1.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the X violation was.
In this handout image provided by the Iranian Leader’s Press Office, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands with a rifle while he leads Friday prayer at the Imam Khomeini Musalla Mosque on Oct. 04, 2024 in Tehran, Iran. X suspended a new Hebrew language account run on behalf of Khamenei on Monday.
Iranian Leader’s Press Office – Handout/Getty Images
The Elon Musk-owned social media company did not respond to a request for comment.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Speech
Khamenei said in a speech on Sunday that Israel’s strikes—in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack this month which saw about 200 cruise missiles fired— “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for retaliation.
The newly suspended X account, which was created on Sunday, began with a message in Hebrew that read, “In the name of God, the most merciful,” a standard Islamic greeting.
The second post referred to Khamenei’s speech, and was sent on his English account as: “Zionists are making a miscalculation with respect to Iran. They don’t know Iran. They still haven’t been able to correctly understand the power, initiative, and determination of the Iranian people.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader and Social Media
Khamenei’s office has maintained multiple accounts for the 85-year-old supreme leader on X for years and has sent messages in a variety of languages in the past.
This is not the first time Khamenei has had social media accounts suspended.
In February, Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram removed accounts associated with the Iranian leader due to his expressed support for Hamas following the group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 when Iran-backed militant group Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel’s history.
This operation killed some 1,200 people and led to around 250 hostages taken, after which Israel launched its military operation in Gaza, killing some 42,000 Palestinians so far, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Platforms including X and Facebook have been officially blocked within Iran for years.
Citizens seeking access them typically resort to virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass these restrictions.
Response From Iraq
Following the attack on Saturday, Iraq has submitted a memorandum of protest to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council saying Israel violated its airspace in the nation’s attack on Iran.
The Iraqi prime minister’s office said in a statement that Israeli “aggressor aircraft violated Iraq’s airspace and sovereignty and used Iraqi airspace to carry out the attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran on Oct. 26.”
The statement also said that Iraq’s foreign minister intended to discuss the matter with the United States.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press
