With Twitter engulfed in a political firestorm, Sen. Ted Cruz added fuel to the blaze.
In a Friday letter to Attorney General William Barr and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Texas Republican called for a criminal investigation into the social media company for a “blatant and willful violation” of U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Cruz said Twitter was violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by providing a platform to Iranian leaders such as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“I believe that the primary goal of IEEPA and sanctions law should be to change the behavior of designated individuals and regimes, not American companies,” he said. “But when a company willfully and openly violates the law after receiving formal notice that it is unlawfully supporting designated individuals, the federal government should take action.”
Cruz and three other senators penned a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in February calling for him to ban Khamenei’s and Zarif’s accounts.
“While the First Amendment protects the free speech rights of Americans — and Twitter should not be censoring the political speech of Americans — the Ayatollah enjoys zero protection from the United States Bill of Rights,” the four senators wrote in the letter.
“And, as the leader of the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism — directly responsible for the murder of hundreds of US citizens — the Ayatollah and any American companies providing him assistance are entirely subject to US sanctions laws,” they continued.
The first letter came at a time of soaring tensions between the United States and Iran. The U.S. killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops, in a January drone strike. Iran then retaliated by firing more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.
Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, appeared to weigh in on the matter when he posted a series of tweets from Khamenei that called for the destruction of Israel.
“Serious question for @Twitter: Do these tweets from Supreme Leader of Iran @khamenei_ir violate ‘Twitter Rules about glorifying violence’?” he said.
Serious question for @Twitter: Do these tweets from Supreme Leader of Iran @khamenei_ir violate “Twitter Rules about glorifying violence”? pic.twitter.com/oEkCC8UzFV
— Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) May 29, 2020
Twitter sowed controversy Tuesday when it added a “get the facts” alert under some of President Trump’s tweets about mail-in ballots. Trump accused Twitter of interfering in the presidential election. Twitter also added a warning label on tweets from Trump and the White House about the violent protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, over the death of George Floyd.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Twitter for comment on Cruz’s letter but did not immediately receive a response.
