Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday criticized the treatment of blacks and Muslims in the United States in a series of tweets referencing Malcolm X, who was a member of the Nation of Islam before embracing Sunni Islam.
How was US govt.’s treatment against black #freedom movements? They killed them & applied violence against them. 8/14/1991
#MalcomX
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) February 23, 2015
Despite US enmity agnst #Islam,this religion has gained much popularity not only among blacks but also amng white Americans.3/21/97
#MalcomX
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) February 23, 2015
Where in the world are #blacks treated w such violence like what US does? Yes, Zionists treat #Palestinians the same way.8/3/93
#MalcomX
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) February 23, 2015
+50M US blacks are deprived of human rights b/c their national interests are spent on covering the costs of #Israel‘s crimes.5/6/92
#MalcomX
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) February 23, 2015
The tweets misspell Malcolm X’s name. It’s not clear what the dates in Khamenei’s tweets were referring to.
The Ayatollah also used his Twitter account to weigh in on race in the U.S. in December. He used the #BlackLivesMatter and #Ferguson hashtags to compare the Ferguson protests to conflicts in the Middle East.