Instagram and its parent company Facebook are removing posts that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani to comply with US sanctions, CNN cited a Facebook spokesperson as saying on Friday, January 10.

The Iranian government has called for nationwide legal action against Instagram in protest, even creating a portal on a government website for the app's users to submit examples of posts the company removed, Iranian state media reported.

In a tweet, Iran's government spokesperson, Ali Rabiei, called Instagram's actions "undemocratic."

Instagram is one of the few western social media platforms that is not blocked in Iran. Facebook and Twitter are blocked but some Iranians access those sites using VPNs.

"We operate under US sanctions laws, including those related to the US government's designation of the IRGC and its leadership," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

Instagram shut down Soleimani's own account on the platform last April after the US government designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization. Soleimani was an IRGC commander.