On Saturday, Twitter moved to pull the plug on an account linked to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after it recently posted a CGI animated video that depicted the assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The post by the account in question, @KhameneiSite, has since been taken down for violating Twitter's ban evasion policy, according to a spokesperson of the platform. However, it is not one of the supreme leader's main accounts, which remain up and running to date, the New York Post reported.
The appalling animation, titled "Revenge is Inevitable," was crafted as part of a contest commemorating the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed on Jan. 3, 2020, by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq.
Trump was still in office during his killing and was held responsible by the Iranian government.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the mocking video features an Iranian drone sneaking onto a golf course where Trump is playing.
Pointing a laser to the former president, an Iranian hacker could be heard sending one of his entourage a message that, "Soleimani's murderer, the one who gave the order will pay the price." The video ends with words of warning, "revenge is definite,'' after cutting to a scene depicting an imminent drone strike to kill Trump.
Previously, Khamenei used the platform, inciting Palestinians to “confront” Israel amid the escalating aggression between the two sides.
“Palestinians are awake and determined. They must continue this path. One can only talk with the language of power with these criminals,” Khamenei said in a tweet. “They must increase their strength, stand strong, confront the enemy, and force them to stop their crimes."
The post came shortly before the Israeli military warned of an impending barrage of rockets from Hamas in Gaza through air raid sirens in Tel Aviv.
Aaron Klein, then senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, subsequently slammed the platform for not targeting Khamenei over his inflammatory post, citing the ban on Trump.
Notably, Twitter last year booted Trump out of the social scene after inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot while he was still the commander-in-chief. At the time, the brand cited "the risk of further incitement of violence” for such a move and maintained its top priority is to preserve healthy conversations on the platform.
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