Instagram closes account of head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

Instagram has closed the account of Major-General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force. As a result, Soleimani lost his 888,000 followers.

The move comes as the media giant seeks to comply with the US’ decision to designate the military force on its list of “foreign terrorist organisations”.

In response, the Iranian Supreme National Security Council designated the United States Central Command, also known as CENTCOM, and all its forces as terrorists and labelled the US as a “supporter of terrorism”.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated after US President Donald Trump announced America’s unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal signed with Iran in 2015 and re-imposed economic sanctions which had previously been lifted under the agreement.

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