In an unexpected twist, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s foray into the Hebrew language on X has been abruptly cut short. Just one day after launching his new Hebrew-language account, @Khamenei_Heb, the Iranian Supreme Leader’s account was suspended by X.
Khamenei had only made two posts before his account was suspended. His second post, published on Sunday, warned Israel that they had “made a mistake” in their calculations about Iran, hinting at a powerful response. The first post, “In the name of Allah the Merciful,” was published on Saturday.
The suspension came despite the account gaining considerable traction, with over half a million views, thousands of likes, and close to 2,000 comments, most of which were from Israelis who mocked the Iranian leader.
“The Zionist regime made a mistake and erred in its calculation regarding Iran. We will make it understand what power, ability, initiative and desire the Iranian nation has,” he had posted in Hebrew on his X account.
While Khamenei has previously posted in Hebrew on his main X account, the new account, dedicated solely to Hebrew, appeared to be a strategic attempt to engage with Israeli audiences directly. The swift suspension raises questions about X’s content moderation policies and the extent to which they apply to high-profile individuals like Khamenei.
X’s rules prohibit content from “violent and hateful entities,” though they make an exception for posts from “state or governmental entities.” Khamenei has been using his main account to issue threats against Israel and Western nations. There is no immediate comment from X.
The suspension of Khamenei’s Hebrew account comes amid a backdrop of heightened tensions between Iran and Israel. The recent Israeli airstrikes on Iranian military targets in Syria have further fueled the conflict, with both sides engaged in a war of words and threats.
