Iran was reported to have banned the proprietary cross-platform messaging application WhatsApp because  it is owned by Mark Zuckerberg, who they claim is a supporter of Israel.

Head of the Iranian Committee on Internet Crimes Abdolsamad Khorramabadi justified the action by calling Zuckerberg "an American Zionist", according to Iran's domestic news agency IRNA.

Like Us on Facebook

However, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reportedly tweeted his opposition to the ban on WhatsApp, sending observers wondering if there was conflict within the Iranian government as to the legality of the free application.  It remains unclear whether or not the app will stay.

Twitter and Facebook were similarly blocked in Iran in 2009 as retaliation for their use by protestors and civil rights activists throughout the country.

During the 2009 Iranian election protests, the massive civil unrest against former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was widely publicized through the Internet when conventional news reporting of the nationwide protests was heavily restricted.

Iran's long-standing conflict with Israel has been well-documented as the country remains firmly in support of the independence of Palestine and refuses to recognize the sovereignty of the Israeli government.

Since 1979, the country has retained a mixed political system that is part parliamentary democracy and part religious theocracy led by Islamic clergy.

The mixed system has caused conflict between some of the more moderate politicians of the country and the conservative Islamic church led by the Supreme Leader, who outranks the President as head of state.

WhatsApp is one of the leading free messaging applications around, and is available for Android phones, iOS, Blackberry OS, Windows, Symbian and selected Nokia phone platforms.

Before it was purchased by Facebook in February, WhatsApp was a small company based in Mountain View, California that employed only 55 people but boasts of around 400 million users.

Zuckerberg was born New York and raised by Jewish parents.  He has, however, identified himself in interviews as an atheist following his bar mitzvah, a traditional Jewish coming of age ritual, when he turned 13.

Zuckerberg also avoids discussing his political views, let alone his views on Israel.

He has however, been the target of an outspoken Zionist facebook page "Join us to tell Mark Zuckerberg of his moral duty to support Israel", which has currently amassed 1,820 likes.

TagsIran, Zuckerberg, WhatsApp, Ban, Zionist, Israel, Judaism, Islam