US President Donald Trump
United States President Donald Trump has said he wants a direct role in determining who becomes Iran’s next supreme leader following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sparking fresh debate over the future leadership of the Islamic Republic.
Speaking in an interview with Axios on Thursday, Trump dismissed the possibility of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, succeeding his father, describing him as unsuitable for the position.
“Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump said, referencing developments in Venezuela where he claimed to have influenced leadership changes.
Trump added that Washington would not accept Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s next leader. “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” he was quoted as saying.
The U.S. president also warned that if Iran installs a leader who continues the policies of the late Khamenei, the United States could find itself back in conflict with Tehran within the next five years.
However, it remains unclear how Trump or the United States could influence the process. Under Iran’s political system, the country’s supreme leader is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a body of senior Shiite clerics that has historically maintained a strongly anti-U.S. stance.
Trump’s comments nevertheless suggest that Washington may prefer working with a new figure from within Iran’s political system rather than pursuing outright regime change, despite decades of hostility between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the pro-Western Shah.
Meanwhile, Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last monarch, has proposed returning as a transitional figure while the country drafts a new constitution aimed at establishing a secular democracy. But Pahlavi earlier insisted that any successor chosen within the current system would lack legitimacy.
Khamenei, who ruled Iran since 1989 and was known for hardline policies at home and confrontations with regional rivals, was killed in a recent Israeli strike during escalating hostilities involving Israel and the United States.
His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is widely seen as one of the leading contenders to succeed him, which would make him only the third supreme leader in Iran’s history after Khamenei and revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Reuters
