Iran has banned the free text-messaging service WhatsApp, since it is owned by a Jew, according to news reports citing an Iranian censor.

“The reason for this is the assumption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist,” said Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, head of the country’s secretary of the Committee for Determining Criminal Web Content,  Fox News reported Sunday.

WhatsApp was acquired in February by Facebook for a reported $19 billion in cash and stock.

Zuckerberg is Facebook’s founder and chief executive.

Facebook currently is not banned in Iran, and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has been active in recent months on Facebook and Twitter.

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