Iran’s president says friends write his tweets for him

The @HassanRouhani Twitter account purporting to belong to Iran’s president has been making a stir since last year, especially with its messages of outreach to religious communities like these:

In the past, there have been conflicting reports about whether Rouhani has anything to do with the account.

Rouhani today said that he doesn’t do the tweeting himself, but seemingly endorses its messages by saying his “friends” were responsible.

“No, I don’t write my tweets,” Rouhani told journalists in Davos. “So what you read as my tweets or what is written in Facebook, that is not written by me, that is written by my friends.”

Rouhani is at the World Economic Forum annual meeting to pledge deeper Iranian engagement with the world and make the case that his country, which has been under international sanctions for years, can become one of the world’s 10 biggest economies in the future.