Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iran’s Supreme Leader

Name:	Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic of Iran
Twitter handle:	@khamenei_ir
On Twitter since:	2009
Twitter follower count as of April 2022:	894,000
Notable because:	Iran is one of three nations designated as a state sponsor of international terrorism by the US government (1984), and other Western nations

Summary

Khamenei claims Iran has a divine order from God to wipe America and Israel off the face of the Earth, as part of its global jihad to cleanse the world of “infidels.”

Since its fundamentalist religious revolution in 1979, and driven by its leaders’ belief in the same divine order, Iran has been engaged in terrorism against America and her allies, particularly Israel. This is why there are so many international sanctions against Iran, and the free world is striving to prevent it from getting nuclear weapons. Iran is also one of only three nations that the US has declared state sponsor of terrorism.

Given these facts, and Twitter’s stated rules and policies, it is jarring to know that Khameni has had an active Twitter account since 2009, that he has amassed nearly 1 million followers. Twitter also allows Khamanei’s government underlings to also enjoy Twitter accounts.

Screencap taken April 13, 2022 of account @khamenei_ir, archived here.

Khamenei activities on Twitter

Twitter bans account linked to Iran’s supreme leader over Trump assassination threat – NY Post, January 16, 2022. (Note: Note that the last sentence reads, “Other accounts associated with Khamenei are still online.”