09 January 2021

Twitter hides Iranian leader’s conspiracy post about ‘contaminated vaccines imported from UK and US

Twitter has hidden a post on the account of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on a coronavirus vaccine conspiracy theory.

The tweet from the account of Mr Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran claimed Covid-19 vaccines imported from the US or UK were “completely untrustworthy”.

“It’s not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations,” the tweet said.

HEALTH Coronavirus (PA Graphics)

It also claimed that French coronavirus vaccines “aren’t trustworthy”.

A tweet on the leader’s Farsi-language account that appeared to make similar claims was still visible.

On Friday, Mr Khamenei announced a ban on importing American and British vaccines, but he has cleared vaccine imports from other “safe” places.

HEALTH Coronavirus (PA Graphics)

Iran in December began the human test phase of its own vaccine which it is expected to distribute in the spring.

Tehran has struggled to stem the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East, which has infected more than 1.2 million people and killed over 56,000.

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