Iran is promoting a domestically-produced mobile messaging app, complete with a "Death to America" emoji, in an attempt to get millions of Iranians to abandon the popular Telegram service, which it blames for promoting unrest in the country.

Among the features on new app Soroush are a series of emojis featuring a chador-clad woman clutching a picture of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and placards wishing death to Israel, America and Freemasons.

The Soroush app is even the subject of a competition in the country's elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, where five lucky people will be given gold coins for signing up. The competition was announced on the Force's Telegram channel.

Ayatollah Khamenei has emerged as a champion of the new app, closing down his account on Telegram and telling users to do the same and sign up to the Iranian-produced service.

"The activities of the presidency's Telegram channel have stopped in support of domestic messaging apps," state broadcaster IRIB also reported last week.

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