Even Ayatollahs use Twitter

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, is visiting Qom, the religious epicenter of Iran and the residence of most of the country’s top religious authorities.

But a little known fact is that the office of the supreme leader has a Twitter account that is providing updates and links, including pictures, from his visit. Earlier today, the account stated that three top grand ayatollahs along with other scholars visited the leader’s house in Qom… who said Iranian clerics are completely un-modern?

There is, of course, much (often inaccurate) speculation regarding the ayatollah’s visit, but it might be useful to remember this is the city where Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader, first resided (albeit briefly) after he returned to Iran following the success of the Iranian Revolution. It is an important city and serves to reinforce the fact that religion plays a major factor in Iran and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.