<\/p>
US President Donald Trump on March 5 said he must be personally involved in selecting Iran\u2019s next leader following the death of the country\u2019s longtime supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes last week.\u00a0<\/p>
In an interview with Axios<\/em>, Trump dismissed the possibility of Khamenei\u2019s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, succeeding him, calling the idea \u201cunacceptable\u201d and describing the cleric as a \u201clightweight.\u201d He said Washington should help shape the outcome of Iran\u2019s leadership transition.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cThey are wasting their time. Khamenei\u2019s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy Rodr\u00edguez in Venezuela,\u201d Trump said.\u00a0<\/p> Trump also warned that installing a leader who continues the policies of the late Iranian leader could lead to renewed conflict with the United States within a few years.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cKhamenei\u2019s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p> The remarks come amid heightened tensions in the region after coordinated US-Israeli air strikes on February 28 killed Khamenei in the Iranian capital, Tehran. The strikes triggered uncertainty over the future leadership of the Islamic Republic.\u00a0<\/p> Iran\u2019s clerical body responsible for selecting the supreme leader \u2014 the Assembly of Experts \u2014 is expected to determine the successor. Reports suggest Mojtaba Khamenei, a mid-ranking cleric who managed his father\u2019s office and maintained close ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has emerged as a key contender despite lacking a formal public role.\u00a0<\/p> Israeli forces earlier targeted a building in the city of Qom that houses the clerical body responsible for choosing the next leader, in what analysts say may have been an attempt to disrupt the succession process.\u00a0<\/p> Trump also indicated that the White House had reviewed several possible candidates for Iran\u2019s leadership, though he noted that some potential figures were now dead. He suggested that a more moderate leader from within Iran could be preferable, saying, \u201cIf there\u2019s such a person, but we have people like that. We have people \u2026 more moderate.\u201d<\/p> <\/div> Donald Trump Iran next leader, Trump Iran supreme leader succession, Mojtaba Khamenei successor news, Ali Khamenei death Iran leadership, US Israel strike Iran Khamenei killed, Trump rejects Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran Assembly of Experts new leader, Iran leadership transition news, Trump Iran regime change comments, Iran supreme leader succession crisis#039Unacceptable039 #Trump #rejects #Khamenei039s #sonsays #involved #picking #Irans #leader1772762329<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" US President Donald Trump on March 5 said he must be personally involved in selecting Iran\u2019s next leader following the death of the country\u2019s longtime supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes last week.\u00a0 In an interview with Axios, Trump dismissed the possibility of Khamenei\u2019s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, succeeding him, calling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[15633,15626,15623,15635,15629,15630,15632,13935,970,6832,15625,15636,3218,15634,378,15631,15624,15628,15627],"class_list":["post-4400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-039unacceptable039","tag-ali-khamenei-death-iran-leadership","tag-donald-trump-iran-next-leader","tag-involved","tag-iran-assembly-of-experts-new-leader","tag-iran-leadership-transition-news","tag-iran-supreme-leader-succession-crisis","tag-irans","tag-khamenei039s","tag-leader","tag-mojtaba-khamenei-successor-news","tag-picking","tag-rejects","tag-sonsays","tag-trump","tag-trump-iran-regime-change-comments","tag-trump-iran-supreme-leader-succession","tag-trump-rejects-mojtaba-khamenei","tag-us-israel-strike-iran-khamenei-killed"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}