Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Donald Trump has said he must be involved in picking Iran’s supreme leader and that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba would not be acceptable to the US as the country’s next leader.
“We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future, so we don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again,” Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview on Thursday.
“We’re going to have to choose that person along with Iran. We’re going to have to choose that person.”
The US president’s comments mark a step up in his ambitions to enact US-led regime change in Tehran and signal he hopes to replicate American action to change the leadership of Venezuela.
Iranian regime loyalists on Wednesday used social media to promote Mojtaba Khamenei as the successor to his father, who had ruled the nation since 1989 and was killed in US and Israeli air strikes on Saturday.
The acclamation for Mojtaba Khamenei came shortly after a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that selects the supreme leader. But an official announcement has not been made.
Trump told Axios in a telephone interview on Thursday that “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me”, adding that “we want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran”.
“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” he told Axios. “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela.”
US forces in January removed Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro. Trump has since voiced support for vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, who has assumed leadership of the country. Trump had warned Rodríguez that she could pay a price bigger than Maduro if she does not meet American demands.
Trump did not reveal who he thought would be a better option to lead Iran. But he told Reuters that Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last Shah of Iran, was a possibility. The president said “everybody’s in the mix”, adding that it was “very early”.
His comments come as the Middle East conflict moved into its sixth day, with hostilities escalating as Iran and its proxy groups in the Middle East continued to launch missiles and drones against Israel and Gulf states, targeting energy infrastructure, US embassies and military bases.
Azerbaijan on Thursday said it was hit by a drone fired by Iran and threatened to retaliate. Tehran later denied it fired the drone. Thousands of people fled Beirut after the Israeli military issued a sweeping evacuation for the southern region of Lebanon’s capital.
Meanwhile, the US said it was closing its embassy in Kuwait after Tehran said it had carried out drone attacks on US forces in Kuwait and Iraq.
First Appeared on
Source link
Leave feedback about this