Trump Snubs Khamenei’s ‘Lightweight’ Heir in Demand He Help Pick Iran’s Next Leader

(Kay Nietfeld/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

President Donald Trump insisted he must play a role in selecting Iran’s next supreme leader, dismissing the son of assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current frontrunner to succeed him, as a “lightweight.”

In an interview with Axios on Thursday, Trump said he would not accept Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s son and a hardliner widely seen as the leading candidate, as Iran’s next ruler and insisted the U.S. should shape the country’s political future.

“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 the outlet.

The remarks come as Iran’s clerical establishment scrambles to select a successor following the killing of Khamenei during joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes last week.

Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for choosing the supreme leader, has delayed the decision for several days, though officials have suggested an announcement could come soon. Mojtaba Khamenei, who has strong ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps but has never held public office, has emerged as a leading contender.

Trump made clear he opposes that outcome, which  he claimed would lead to war again “in five years.”

“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” he said.

The president compared the potential intervention to Venezuela, where he said the U.S. influenced the political transition after its leader, Nicolás Maduro, was captured in a January raid and his vice president, Rodríguez, assumed power.

Trump’s comments come as senior officials in his administration have publicly denied that the ongoing military campaign is aimed at regime change, claiming instead that the aim is nuclear and military incapacitation. Earlier this week, Trump told reporters that “most of the” potential Iranian successors that he “has in mind” were already “dead” after being killed by initial strikes.

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