Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is seen in Tehran, Iran, on December 14, 2016.
Reza B | AFP | Getty Images
Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has opened a new “verified” account on the influential social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk.
Khamenei, whose X handle is @Rahbarenghelab_, launched a tweetstorm Thursday about the U.S.-Israel war against Iran and the Islamic Republic’s response to it.
“Dear combatant brothers! The desire of the masses of the people is the continuation of an effective and regret-inducing defense. Furthermore, the lever of closing the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used reliably,” Khamenei wrote in a post to X’s more than 44,000 followers. All posts have been translated from Persian by X.
“We assure you that we will not abandon our revenge for the blood of your martyrs,” he wrote in another post.
In addition to speaking about the Strait of Hormuz, Khamenei urged Iran’s neighbors in the Middle East to “make their stand clear” and countries with U.S. military bases to close them.
Khamenei was elected as Iran’s supreme leader earlier this week, replacing his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on February 28, the first day of the war.
Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, slammed the fact that Mojtaba Khamenei was allowed the X account. In February, TTP published a report that found the existence of X accounts in the names of Iranian government officials, government agencies, and government media outlets with blue checkmarks indicating they were customers of X’s premium service.
“For the past three years, the Technology Transparency Project has repeatedly highlighted how Company X benefits by providing premium subscriptions to U.S. sanctioned entities, many of which have ties to terrorism, in clear violation of U.S. sanctions law,” Paul told CNBC via email.
“That’s what’s happening right now with sanctioned leaders of countries that the United States is actively at war with,” Paul said.
Mr. Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX, which owns X and artificial intelligence company xAI, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mojtaba Khamenei’s new account on the social network. Accounts are marked with a blue check mark, reserved for “premium” users.
—CNBC’s Matt Peterson contributed to this article.
