Khamenei's Twitter infuriates Iran bloggers: report

A Twitter account believed to belong to Iran's supreme leader has triggered controversy among Iranians whose own access to social networking websites remains blocked, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the man who has the final word in Iran, has come under intense criticism from Iran's many bloggers for launching a crackdown on Twitter and Facebook while his office apparently runs a Twitter.

The official website of the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi criticized Khamenei for allegedly signing up to Twitter under the headline: "If it's prohibited why is it that the leader's office has a Twitter account?"

Since the disputed presidential election in June 2009, the government has repeatedly condemned Iranians who use Facebook and Twitter, saying the social networking sites were created by Iran's enemies to topple the Islamic regime.

Iran has also imprisoned many journalists and bloggers for posting comments online – or for simply having accounts on such sites.

The purported Khamenei Twitter account does not follow anyone. It has 888 followers and displays the same logo as his official website – Khamenei's signature, the Guardian said.

The Iranian embassy in London said today that it could not confirm whether the account is run by his office.

Most of the tweets are quotes by Khamenei, and links to his speeches and statements.

A huge number of websites are blocked inside Iran. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Iran is the world's leading jailer of journalists and bloggers. More than 100 have been imprisoned since the 2009 election.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the influential cleric Hashemi Rafsanjani and the controversial head of president's office, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, are among Iranian politicians with a private website.

At least two fake Twitter accounts have been set up in Khamenei's name, both of which have attracted more audiences than the real account, according to the Guardian.

Iran said last week that it has launched a cyber police unit to monitor the activities of Iranians online.