Instagram accounts of Iran Guards commanders blocked
The Instagram accounts of several Iranian Revolutionary
Guards commanders have been blocked, the Tabnak news website reported Tuesday,
with the photo-sharing website saying it was complying with US sanctions, according to AFP.
The United States announced on April 8 that it has placed
the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of Iran, on their
list of "foreign terrorist organizations".
Tabnak, a site close to Iranian conservatives, said
Instagram blocked the accounts of Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Major
General Mohammad Bagheri and Major General Ghassem Soleimani.
Access to Soleimani's account, which was working last week,
was denied on Tuesday.
"Sorry, this page isn't available," read a message
on the account.
"The link you followed may be broken, or the page may
have been removed."
Contacted by AFP, an Instagram spokesperson said it was
operating "under the constraints of US sanctions laws".
"We work with appropriate government authorities to
ensure we meet our legal obligations, including those relating to the recent
designation of the IRGC," the spokesperson added.
Iran's Telecommunications Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari
Jahromi appeared to be referring to Instagram's move with a tweet on Tuesday.
"When you tear out a man's tongue, you aren't proving
him a liar, you're only telling the world that you FEAR what he might
say," he wrote on Twitter.
Facebook, Twitter and the Telegram messenger service are
officially banned in Iran, making Instagram the only major social media service
accessible in the country without the use of a virtual private network, or VPN,
to bypass censorship.