US Politics
Trump admits ‘worst case’ in Iran strikes could see new leader ‘as bad or worse than the ayatollah’
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Donald Trump offered little in the way of an optimistic view of Iran’s future on Monday during a bilateral meeting with German Chanceller Friedrich Merz at the White House.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, the president took his first extended Q&A on the military campaign launched by the U.S. on Saturday morning. Those strikes, carred out jointly with the Israeli armed forces, are now confirmed to have killed Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei.
In the days following the White House and GOP have faced questions about what this means for both the U.S. and Iran, including whether America is now involved in an extended war in the Middle East and who the Trump administration hopes will take over the Iranian government in the wake of devastating strikes intended to decapitate the regime and its military.
Trump gave no clear answer to the latter question on Monday, explaining that the U.S. and Israeli strikes killed many of the senior officials the U.S. hoped could take over the country. The president then admitted that his military campaign could end up with Iran putting a new leader with even more fervent anti-U.S. views into power.
“I guess the worst case is we do this and then somebody takes over who is as bad as the previous person. That could happen,” the president admitted on Monday.
“Most of the people we had in mind [to lead Iran] are dead,” added Trump. “Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody.”
This is a breaking news report. More to follow…
