State Dept. Urges Twitter to Act Against Iran General’s Threats Issued to US Officials

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown on Thursday urged the social media platform Twitter to take action against an Iranian general’s post in which he issued death threats to the United States’ leadership.

"General Esmail Qaani, Qassem Soleimani's successor as leader of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Qods Force, is making death threats on Twitter against US officials. When will Twitter apply its terms of use to counter such brazen threats of terrorism?" Brown said.

Brown attached a copy of presumably Qaani’s publication warning the US President, CIA Director and the Secretaries of Defense and State that "the Islamic Republic will avenge the unjustly shed blood of Martyr Soleimani."

Tensions are high in the Middle East ahead of the first anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination by a US drone strike outside Baghdad on January 3. The United States has accused Iran of plotting an attack on US targets in Iraq while Tehran has said it suspects the United States of fabricating a pretext for a regional war.