US Politics
Trump says he has ‘to be involved’ in picking next Iran leader and Khamenei’s son is ‘unacceptable’
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President Donald Trump said Thursday that he must have a role in choosing Iran’s next leader, further clouding his administration’s longterm plans after the U.S. launched military strikes against the adversarial nation.
The country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli air strikes last weekend. His 56-year-old son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has emerged as a strong contender to lead the regime.
But in an interview with Axios Thursday, Trump made clear that he will not accept a new leader in Iran who would carry out the late Ayatollah’s agenda.
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me,” Trump told Axios. “We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”
He added: “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela.” Rodriguez was sworn in as the acting president of Venezuela in January after the U.S. military captured President Nicolas Maduro and transported him to New York to stand trial on drug charges.
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Trump echoed the sentiment to Reuters Thursday. “We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future. We don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again,” he also said.
Mojtaba Khamenei appears to be the main candidate for supreme leader after several meetings of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Iranian officials told The New York Times. The late supreme leader’s son, who has largely kept out of the public eye, has a background in Islamic theology and is considered a hardline conservative cleric.
Trump also told reporters that some of the Iranian officials whom he might have accepted as successors to Khamenei had been killed in the airstrikes.
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said. “So, you know, we had some in mind from that group that is, is dead. And now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports. So, I guess you have a third wave coming in. Pretty soon, we’re not going to know anybody.”
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The U.S.’s war with Iran has been raging for six days, leading to the deaths of more than 1,000 people in the country, according to state media, and destruction of infrastructure and military assets. An additional 14 countries in the Middle East and beyond have been struck with retaliatory attacks by Iran. The Iranian government has condemned the attacks as illegal and called on the international community for support.
Shortly after the first round of strikes this past weekend, the administration offered up a number of explanations for the operation, dubbed “Epic Fury.”
Vice President JD Vance said the campaign is being carried out to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated the attack was launched after it became clear Israel was going to strike Iran.
Trump suggested regime change is a goal. “This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” he wrote on Truth Social this past weekend.
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On Monday, Trump said that he has four main objectives: destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, annihilating its navy, ensuring it can’t obtain a nuclear weapon, and stopping it from arming outside terrorist groups.
During a White House press conference Wednesday, a reporter noted that Trump’s objectives do not include regime change. The reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, “If those objectives were achieved, and the Islamic Republic still existed, would that be an acceptable outcome?”
“That’s a hypothetical question that I’m not going to engage in,” Leavitt replied.
The timeline for accomplishing Trump’s stated goals is unclear. The president has suggested it could take four weeks — though he said the U.S. has the capacity to carry on for longer.
Democrats have largely opposed the military campaign, which some have described as illegal, strategically unsound and a break from Trump’s campaign promises. Many Republicans have backed the president, though some have privately expressed reservations.
This week, a war powers resolution seeking to rein in the president on Iran failed to pass in the Senate. The House narrowly rejected a resolution to halt Trump’s attack on Iran Thursday.
Just one in four Americans supports the U.S. attacks on Iran, according to a recent Reuters survey.
