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Tweets Linked to Iran's Supreme Leader Support Ferguson 'Oppressed'

Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, an outspoken critic of the U.S., used the popular hashtag #BlackLivesMatter to suggest Ferguson protesters are oppressed.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a ceremony in Tehran last month.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a ceremony in Tehran last month.IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER WEB SITE / EPA

Iran's supreme leader is once again weighing in on America's racial debate by using the hashtags #Ferguson and #BlackLivesMatter in a series of sharp-tongued tweets. Since Christmas Eve, an English-language Twitter account associated with Ayatollah Ali Khamanei has been blasting American values and calling on Jesus' followers to "fight against arrogants."

Khamanei has previously tweeted about the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, to say that blacks remain "subjected to discrimination" in the U.S. This time, his account is comparing the message of Jesus' standing up to oppression with how blacks are protesting in Ferguson and Palestinians are living under Israel in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Khamanei went further, attacking America's aggressiveness by bringing up the 1890 massacre of the Lakota tribe by U.S. soldiers near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota.

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— Erik Ortiz