LONDON: A Twitter account linked to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was suspended on Saturday, days after it carried a video depicting the hypothetical assassination of former US President Donald Trump.
The animation, which shows a golfer resembling Trump being targeted in a drone strike, was also posted on Khamenei’s official website, where it was described as the “winning animation from the people in the ‘Hero’ contest conducted by Khamenei.ir on the topic of revenge on Trump, (former US Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo and the murderers of Gen. Soleimani.”
It was tweeted from the Persian-language account with the text: “Revenge is definite.”
The video showed the Trump-like figure being targeted by a robot under the shadow of a large drone on a golf course.
“The account referenced has been permanently suspended for violating our ban evasion policy,” a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.
According to Twitter, the company's top priority is keeping people safe and protecting the health of the conversation on the platform.
The social media giant says it has clear policies around abusive behavior and will take action when violations are identified.
Khamenei and other top Iranian officials have continually vowed retaliation for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January, 2020.
A similar account linked to Khamenei was blocked by Twitter last year for sharing a similar image — with a golfer resembling Trump carrying the words: “Vengeance is inevitable.”
* With AFP
