One of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Twitter acccounts – @khamenei_site – has been suspended after posting a rendered image of Trump playing golf as a bomber or drone flies overhead preparing to "avenge" the death of Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani.
Clicking on the profile leads users to a notice reading "Account suspended: Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules." The notice is identical to that which shows on former US President Donald Trump's account since he was thrown off the social media platform earlier this month.
Iranian news agency Tasnim, which also shared the image posted by Khamenei, saw its tweet about the story deleted, but its accounts remain active.
Khamenei's @khamenei_ir account, which did not appear to post the offending image, remains active at the time of writing, with its last post published on 18 January. Other accounts, including @Khamenei_fa, @ur_khamenei, @Khamenei_Fra, and others similarly appear to be active.
Trump hasn't been so lucky. Twitter banned all of his accounts and went on to suspend other official accounts associated with his administration after the he attempted to sidestep the restrictions. Trump was also banned on Facebook and Instagram, with Facebook referring the former president to its version of a "supreme court" to determine if he should be banned permanently.
Commentators in the US have long accused Twitter of anti-conservative bias, with some suggesting that if Trump can be banned, so too should accounts belonging to various US adversaries around the world. Others, both on the Left and the Right, have suggested that free speech is paramount, and that people should be allowed to have a presence on social media even if it offends some sensibilities.
Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened revenge attacks against US officials in the wake of Qasem Soleimani's assassination in a US drone strike in January 2020 . Tehran holds Donald Trump personally responsible for the killing, citing the fact that he signed off on the assassination order.
