Netanyahu’s Farsi tweets: What do Iranians say?

The tweets on Netanyahu’s Farsi Twitter account are serious – despite all the typos – but most of the Iranians commenting do not take them seriously.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a new Twitter account in Farsi to warn against a possible nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

The very first tweet is in broken Farsi. Misspelling the word "despite," Netanyahu wrote: “[Iranian Supreme Leader] Khamenei has said that despite any [nuclear] deal, Iran must combat the US, while [Iranian President] Rouhani leads hateful demonstrations.”

At first Iranians were not sure about the authenticity of the account.

Bozorgmehr Sharafedin Nouri, Iran correspondent for Reuters in Dubai, tweeted:

But when Mr. Netanyahu’s official Twitter account started following the new account, all doubts were gone.

So far there are three tweets on Netanyahu’s Farsi account, all with typos and grammar mistakes.

The second tweet warns that compromising with Iran will pave the way for Iran to build an atomic bomb, and will provide the Iranian government with “billions of dollars” that it will spend on “terrorism and invasion.” ("Billions of dollars" most likely referring to Iran’s assets in international accounts, which are still partly blocked.)

The last tweet to be posted on Tuesday when this article was written warns once again that if Iran gets access to “billions of dollars,” it will use the money for “terrorism” and not for building “hospitals and schools.”

Netanyahu has always been a vocal opponent of any possible nuclear deal with Iran, but never in Farsi. As expected, Iranians' general reaction to these tweets is not friendly. Aside from obscene responses pouring in, some comments turn the table on Israel.

An Iranian responded to one of the tweets in Farsi calling the Israeli government “the biggest terrorist government in the world that "assassinates its opponent all around the globe.”

His comment is followed by a tweet from another Iranian, with a different perspective, which created a heated debate:

Although there are some serious comments, most of Twitter users are reacting to the tweets in a mocking way. Some point at all the typos and grammar mistakes in the PM’s official Farsi tweets:

And others refer to Netanyahu’s previous comments which were subjected to mockery on social media: the bomb drawing he showed during the 2012 UN General Assembly meeting and his 2013 comment about Iranians being suppressed to the point of not being able to wear blue jeans in his 2013 interview with the BBC.

One Twitter user responded to one of Netanyahu’s Farsi tweets: “Come on, I thought you want to show how much you have progressed in drawing. Leave this topic and stick to blue jeans….”

Another one asked for some jeans: "Drop the sanctions! Can you send over some jeans? I’ll pay you back."

It might not be the reception that Netanyahu had hoped for, but his Farsi twitter account has become quite popular. So far, it has more than 1,700 followers.