Social media platform X on Monday suspended a Hebrew-language account operated by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, just one day after it was created.
A note on the X handle @Khamenei_Heb read: “X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules.” The nature of the alleged violation was not immediately clear.
According to The Associated Press, the account was opened on Sunday with a message in Hebrew saying: “In the name of God, the most merciful”, a common Islamic greeting.
Soon after, it published a second message, an extract from a speech that Khamenei gave on Sunday. It read: “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.”
Khamenei’s office maintains multiple X accounts on his behalf, through which the Iranian leader issues messages in several languages.
The second message uploaded on the Hebrew-language account on Sunday referred to Israel launching air strikes targeting military bases in Iran amid heightened tensions in West Asia. The strikes, which left four soldiers dead, were in retaliation for the launch of at least 180 missiles into Israel on October 1 by Iran. This was the first time that Israel claimed responsibility for an attack on Iran.
Iranian defence forces said that bases in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran had been hit but claimed that the attacks were “successfully countered”.
However, satellite images showed that some of the buildings that suffered damage were located in Iran’s Parchin military base, AP reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency suspects that Iran may have used the site in the past to test explosives that could trigger a nuclear weapon. Iran, on its part, has maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Another military base seen to have suffered damage as per satellite imagery was at Khojir. Analysts believe that the base hides an underground tunnel system and sites where Iran is manufacturing missiles.
Iran’s missile attack on Israel
Iran said it launched the missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for Tel Aviv having killed leaders of the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Iranian military.
Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas. Both organisations are backed by Iran.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily strikes for over 10 months amid Tel Aviv’s war on the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then. The attacks have killed more than 43,000 persons, including nearly 16,700 children.
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