A post to the Persian-language Twitter account of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday [January 22] threatened former United States President Donald Trump with revenge for ordering the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on January 3 last year.

The twitter post came with a poster of an aerial view of a golf course, with the shadow of a drone above a man resembling Trump striking the ball. “Revenge is inevitable,” the caption read. “Soleimani’s killer and the one who ordered his killing must pay for it,” the tweet continued, quoting from a speech Khamenei gave on December 16.  

The post has not appeared on Khamenei’s other Twitter accounts in English, French, Arabic, Russian and other languages. Some Iranian media, including the Revolutionary Guards affiliated Tasnim News Agency tweeted the poster on Thursday.

Some social media users have objected to Twitter blocking Trump but not Khamenei. “Khamenei’s account published this poster and wrote about inevitable revenge [on Trump]. Twitter is practically in line with terrorism. [They have not blocked Khamenei] but blocked Trump’s account for dissemination on information on election fraud,” a pro-monarchy Iranian tweeted shortly after Khamenei's tweet.

Image tweeted by Iran's Leader Khamenei, calling for revenge against Donald Trump. January 21, 2021

Trump’s fall-out with Twitter was gradual. At first his tweets claiming widespread rigging in November’s presidential election were tagged with mild warnings. He was banned after inciting the assault on the US Congress on January 6. In general, social media companies regard themselves as ‘platforms’ rather than publishers and accept limited responsibility for content.

The contrasting treatment of the outgoing US president and Iran’s supreme leader has enraged Trump supporters and opponents of Iran’s Islamic Republic. “Khamenei and Tasnim News Agency have again threatened on Twitter to kill [former] President Trump,”  tweeted one. “The twitterati and new agencies now ask why these tweets are allowed but [former] President Trump’s account is blocked.”

Minutes after President Joe Biden was sworn in Wednesday Zeinab, Soleimani’s daughter, in a tweet declared that Donald Trump would live “in fear of foes.”  Zeinab Soleimani has become a prominent media and social media figure since her father’s death.

The Iranian leader and other officials vowed revenge for Soleimani after the commander of Iran’s extraterritorial Quds Force was killed by US drone-fired missiles alongside nine others near Baghdad Airport last January, an action Trump immediately announced he had ordered. Five days later, Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at military bases in Iraq hosting US troops, leaving around 100 American troops with traumatic brain injuries that Trump later called “headaches.”

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard in June published a report concluding that Soleimani’s death was “unlawful killing” and a violation of the UN Charter, but Iran’s attempts to take international legal action have made little progress.

Iranian officials have continued threats of retaliation. Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, on December 22 said Tehran was determined “to take hard revenge…to prevent terrorist acts by America and its agents and force them out of the region.” On December 30, a few days before the anniversary of Soleimani’s death, his successor as Qods Force commander Esmail Ghaani told the Iranian parliament that those responsible for the assassination “should learn how to live secretly” like British-Indian author Salman Rushdie.

Salman Rushdie was condemned to death by Iran’s leader Ruhollah Khomeini for blasphemy after publishing his 1988 book, The Satanic Verses. He lived under protection for many years, and his public appearances remain limited.