Trump demands say on Iran’s next leader as Mideast war spirals

2026-03-05 - 21:24

Donald Trump dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a “lightweight”. (Reuters pic) BEIRUT: Donald Trump said on Thursday he should have a say in selecting Iran’s next supreme leader, as the war sparked by the US-Israeli campaign that killed Ali Khamenei spread across the Middle East and beyond. Trump earlier rejected the possibility of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, replacing his slain father as supreme leader, dismissing the younger man as a “lightweight”. “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump told Axios in an interview, drawing a comparison to Venezuela, where interim president Delcy Rodriguez has cooperated with him under threat of violence after the United States ousted her boss, Nicolas Maduro. “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump was quoted as saying, threatening more war in the future if a better alternative was not found. The remarks suggest a willingness to work with someone from within the Islamic republic rather than toppling the government entirely, despite Trump’s repeated exhortations for Iranians to rise up and take back their country. The Middle East war unleashed by US-Israeli attacks on Iran has swelled outwards to Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Azerbaijan, and risks drawing more countries into the conflict.