Twitter chairman and President Hassan Rouhani tweet about Iran's ban on social media Facebook and Twitter were officially banned following the upheavals that greeted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's bitterly disputed re-election in 2009, when opposition activists tried to use them to organise demonstrations. Last month, a tweet from an account in the president's name created a stir by extending greetings to Jews for the Jewish new year - setting a conciliatory tone that broke with the anti-Semitism associated with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr Rouhani's predecessor. Mr Rouhani, a comparatively moderate cleric, vowed to ease internet censorship during his election campaign, during which he lamented Iran's "security atmosphere." In an interview with CNN this week, President Rouhani said that he was going to put all his efforts, in the "next few months' towards delivering on his campaign promises, of which opening up the country to information was one. There are large social networks at a global level around today,' he said, 'and I believe that all human beings have a right, and all nations have a right, to use them. The use of social media by senior officials is not unprecedented, despite the legal prohibitions existing for ordinary Iranians. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts are held in the name of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, and are thought to be run with his consent. Mr Rouhani's entire cabinet has opened Facebook accounts, signalling a new front in the Iranian president's drive to promote his political agenda on social media and raising hopes that internet censorship could be eased.