President Trump issued a stark warning Sunday to Iran’s next supreme leader — as the country’s Assembly of Experts was said to have chosen the successor to slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump has been steadfast in his demand that he “be involved” in picking the next leader, who he wants vetted and approved by the White House, to ensure lasting peace in the Middle East.
“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” the president told ABC News Sunday. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.
“We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it,” he added.
“I don’t want people to have to go back in five years and have to do the same thing, again, or worse, let them have a nuclear weapon.”
While Trump said he could be open to letting someone from the previous regime take charge, like he did in Venezuela, he has repeatedly rejected Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who he slammed as “unacceptable” and “a lightweight.”
Mojtaba, 56, emerged as the leading choice to succeed his father, who was killed on the first day of Operation Epic Fury following an Israeli airstrike in Tehran.
The regime hardliner — initially believed to have been killed in the strike alongside his father — was once referred to as “the power behind the robes” in US diplomatic cables by the 2000s and was accused of meddling in elections to make sure a conservative ally of his father won office.
Mojtaba was also notably treated for impotency in London after having a hard time conceiving with his wife.
Despite not being in the capital, Israeli officials believe Mojtaba, who has close ties to the Revolutionary Guards, was injured by one of the early strikes of the war, according to the Times of Israel.
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Mojtaba’s appointment is bound to sit badly with Trump.
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said last week.
The president has yet to name a candidate he would like to see succeed Khamenei, with no clear favorite emerging among Iran’s opposition groups.
Tehran has remained defiant of the president’s wishes, with senior cleric Heidari Alekasir, one of the mullahs voting in the succession, clearly stating that Khamenei’s heir is someone Trump has rejected.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” said senior cleric Heidari Alekasir.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts is set to name the Islamic Republic’s new leader “within one day,” according to local outlets.
But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pumped the brakes on rumors that Khamenei’s son will take the reins, claiming that a decision by the assembly of experts hasn’t officially been made, and “nobody knows” who will become Tehran’s next supreme leader just yet.
“Nobody knows. Actually, there are lots of rumors around,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “But you know, we have to wait for the Assembly of Experts to convene and vote for the new supreme leader.”
Araghchi also hit back at Trump’s insistence that he has a say in who will take over Iran as the US president seeks an arrangement that mirrors the situation in Venezuela.
“We allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs,” Araghchi told “Meet the Press.”
“This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader.”
Along with insisting that he play a role in selecting Iran’s new leader, Trump defended the war as it entered its second week, claiming the assault on Tehran was necessary to protect the Middle East.
“They are a paper tiger. They weren’t a paper tiger a week ago, I’ll tell you. And they were going to attack,” he said. “Their plan was to attack the entire Middle East, to take over the entire Middle East.”
The president also reiterated that he was still mulling whether to send troops on the ground in Iran to seize their enriched uranium stockpiles.
