FACT CHECK: Khamenei Falsely Blames US for Iranian Regime’s Declining Public Approval | VOA News

On February 20, 2024, Iranian authorities imprisoned three activists who called for an election boycott and criticized the Islamic Republic in the run-up to Iran’s parliamentary elections, set for March 1.

The IranWire citizen journalism news site quoted one of the three activists, Mostafa Tajzadeh, as saying that Sayyid Ali Khamenei, who as Iran’s supreme leader holds the final authority on all matters in the country, has impeded “essential structural reform” and held back “the contributions of capable individuals.”

Forty-five years ago, in 1979, Islamist revolutionaries overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and established an Islamic republic.

Since then, Iran has held presidential elections every four years, with a new president elected each time. Khamenei served as the country’s third president from 1981 to 1989.

On February 5, Meta removed Khamenei’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram, citing “repeated violations of our Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy.”

On X, formerly Twitter, users also advocated for removing Khamenei’s account, sharing the hashtag (hashtag)banKhameneiAccounts. There was no reaction from X administrators by the time of this writing.

Meanwhile, Khamenei keeps utilizing the Western platform he could still use to spread anti-U.S. disinformation. In a post on X, he claimed the U.S. was trying to disrupt the elections in Iran:

“A US president once called on the Iranian nation to boycott elections. In opposition to him, people participated with even more enthusiasm. After that they stopped saying this directly, but they still try to distance people from the elections using various methods.”

That is false.

There is no evidence that the U.S. is trying “to distance people from the elections” in Iran or that a “US president once called on the Iranian nation to boycott elections.” Polygraph.info and other publications found that Khamenei’s claims are “conspiracy theories” and pre-election disinformation. #factcheck #voanews

https://www.polygraph.info/a/fact-check-khamenei-falsely-blames-us-for-iranian-regime-s-declining-public-approval/7498664.html

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