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2h ago
18.17 GMT
Trump
says he must 'be involved in' choosing Iran’s next leader
Donald
Trump has said he must “be involved in the appointment” of Iran’s next leader
as he was in Venezuela, and dismissed the idea of the assassinated ayatollah’s
son, Mojtaba Khamenei, succeeding his father as supreme leader as
“unacceptable”.
“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,” Trump told Axios
today. You will remember that Rodriguez took over after US forces captured
president Nicolás Maduro in January.
Trump
added that he could not accept a new Iranian leader who would continue
Khamenei’s policies.
“Khamenei’s
son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to
Iran,” he said.
Selecting
a leader who followed the policies of the former supreme leader could force the
US back to war “in five years”, he added.
It comes
a day after Trump’s defense secretary Pete Hegseth insisted that regime change
was not the primary goal of the US military operation in Iran. Other Trump
administration officials have made the same claim since the US and Israel
launched attacks on Iran last Saturday, which killed the former supreme leader
Ali Khamenei .
This,
even though Trump himself has pushed for Iranian regime change previously. His
administration has pivoted its messaging in recent days to focus on destroying
Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities.
Since the
US-Israeli military assault began, Trump has suggested several times that he
had a good idea who he wanted to succeed Khamenei in Iran.
But these
latest comments to Axios come after he told reporters at the White House on
Tuesday:
Most
of the people we had in mind are dead.
No formal
announcement has been made from Iran regarding the selection of a new leader,
though Mojtaba Khamenei is considered the frontrunner.
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