Published 22:35 IST, January 22nd 2021
Twitter suspends one of Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei's account after Revenge threat to Trump
Cracking down on hate speech, micro-blogging site Twitter on Friday, suspended one of Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei's account (@Khamenei_Site)
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Cracking down on hate speech, micro-blogging site Twitter on Friday, suspended one of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's account (@Khamenei_Site) after its tweet against ex-US President Donald Trump proclaiming 'Revenge is inevitable'. The account, Twitter stated violated its rules. Although, the Ayatollah's main account (@Khamenei_IR) is still functional. This act of quashing hate-speech comes days after Trump himself was banned from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and several other social media platforms - after he instigated a mob that stormed the US Capitol in a bid to stop the process of certifying Biden's electoral college victory.
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Ayatollah's Twitter account suspended
Ayatollah threatens Trump
On Thursday, the Ayatollah's Twitter account posted a photomontage of Donald Trump playing golf under the shadow of a warplane, insinuating a possible attack on the former US president. “Revenge is inevitable,” stated that post while reiterating Iran’s vow to avenge the January 2020 drone strike that killed the country’s celebrated leader General Qasem Soleimani. “Soleimani's killer and the man who gave the orders must face vengeance," it said.
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US drone strike kills Iran's General Qassem Soleimani
On January 3, the White House and the Pentagon confirmed the death of Iran's powerful military head by an airstrike directed by US President Donald Trump. Six others were killed along with Major General Soleimani including Iraqi militia head - Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Since then the Green Zone outside US Embassy in Baghdad, several Iraqi airbases and some cities were US Army presence was prevalent have been targetted by Iran-backed militia - Hezbollah. The attack backfired when two of the missiles shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board. Several nations like China, Saudi Arabia, Germany, India, France called for a de-escalation of the situation.
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The attack on Soleimani led to rise in tensions between then- US President Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Both presidents have refused to scale down from the threats with Trump stating that 52 Iranian sites which were important to Iran and its culture will be targetted after Iran declared vengeance over the killing. Trump tweeted a warning to Iran - ' IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!', which was met with Rouhani reminding him of Iran's uranium resources.
Two days after the attack, Iran officially announced its exit from the 2015 Nuclear Accord - Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) stating they had successfully enriched uranium to about 4.5% and threatened to hit the 20% mark. Iran's nuclear deal with Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United States has been in trouble since the US withdrew unilaterally from it in 2018, which will now be reinstated by the Biden administration. Earlier this month, Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi warned that not even Trump was "immune from justice" and that Soleimani's killers would "not be safe anywhere in the world".
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21:20 IST, January 22nd 2021