Iran's Supreme Leader speaks in Russian now

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei now has a Twitter account in Russian to post his statements and speeches.

"In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful," the first message says in Russian.

Senior research fellow of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Sazhin, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Iran needs to strengthen its influence in Russia as one of its few political partners.

"The prospects for preserving the nuclear deal are very vague, it is on its last legs. It is possible that Iran will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as well, which will cause its further isolation, as in this case Europe will officially join the U.S. sanctions. As a result, Iran has quite a few partners, and one of them is Russia," Vladimir Sazhin stressed.

In addition to the Russian Twitter page, Khamenei maintains Twitter accounts in several languages, including in English, Farsi, Arabic, and French.