Story perspectives

Iran's Khamenei Gains X Blue Check Amid Sanctions Concerns

3/24/2026

Summary

Story summary

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, received a blue checkmark on his English-language X account, raising sanctions-compliance concerns.
Khamenei has been under U.S. Treasury sanctions since 2019 and has about 175,000 followers.
He uses the platform to discuss the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict.
The Tech Transparency Project says X may have violated sanctions by accepting payments from sanctioned Iranian entities for its Premium subscription service.
Neither X nor the U.S. Treasury has commented.

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Story summary

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, received a blue checkmark on his English-language X account, raising sanctions-compliance concerns.
Khamenei has been under U.S. Treasury sanctions since 2019 and has about 175,000 followers.
He uses the platform to discuss the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict.
The Tech Transparency Project says X may have violated sanctions by accepting payments from sanctioned Iranian entities for its Premium subscription service.
Neither X nor the U.S. Treasury has commented.