Trump demands final sign-off on Iran’s next supreme leader as he rejects Khamenei’s son with brutal verdict
After effectively electing Venezuela’s new president, Donald Trump has demanded to have the final say on who will rule Iran.
‘They’re wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I need to attend the appointment like in Delcy [Rodriguez] “In Venezuela,” Trump told Axios in response to reports that Mojtaba, the son of the slain Ayatollah, would replace him.
‘[Ali] Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. “We want someone who will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said, adding that if his heir becomes Iran’s Supreme Leader, the United States will return to war within five years.
Mojtaba survived US-Israeli airstrikes that destroyed his father and dozens of senior officials of the Islamic regime. He is a hard-liner with close ties to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard paramilitary force and one of the religious establishment’s most influential figures.
Iran has yet to announce a new leader, but any US intervention would be considered anathema to the majority of Shiite Muslims in Iran.
The assassinated ayatollah had a status similar to that of the Pope, and the religious and ideological interests surrounding his successor are far more complex than the overthrow of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
Maduro’s capture went off without a hitch and without U.S. casualties; There were signs of prior agreement between factions within his Chavista regime.
Rodriguez then met with Trump and agreed to send millions of barrels of oil to the United States. Iran, by contrast, has shown no such desire for accommodation, continuing a relentless bombing campaign against Israel, Arab states, and American bases in the region.
President Donald Trump at a roundtable on the Taxpayer Protection Pledge on Wednesday in the India Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House in Washington, D.C.
Mojtaba Khamenei attends a demonstration in Tehran on May 31, 2019
People run for safety as smoke rises after an airstrike in Tehran, Iran, on Thursday
Trump’s extraordinary decisive role came even as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the administration was not aiming for any ‘regime change’.
The White House has been scrambling in recent days to clear up its mixed messages, with Karoline Leavitt naming four goals: destroying its missile arsenal, destroying its navy, permanently preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons, and eliminating its terrorist proxies.
Trump called on Iranians to rise up against the regime when he announced the attacks on Saturday, and has since spoken to Kurdish militants in Iraq about a ground offensive.
Thousands of Kurdish fighters were flocking to the border last night in the first land attack since the conflict began.
According to CNN, the CIA is in talks with Kurdish leaders to help arm their militants.
A regime change war risks trapping the United States in a protracted conflict that the administration is trying to tell the American people will not happen.
JD Vance stressed on Monday: ‘There is no way Donald Trump will allow this country to engage in a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight.’
Trump “will not rest until we achieve the very important goal of ensuring that Iran does not have nuclear weapons,” the vice president told Fox News in his first comments since the start of the war.
An F/A-18E Super Hornet of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 151 makes an aborted landing on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Wednesday.
Oil tankers are seen off the coast of Fujairah as Iran vows to open fire on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.
Two F/A-18 Super Hornets launched from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on Wednesday in support of Operation Epic Fury
U.S. Navy sailors assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black participate in an at-sea replenishment event with fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in support of the Operation Epic Rage strike on Iran on Wednesday.
Trump initially said he expected the war to last four to five weeks, but later warned it could last ‘much longer.’
Since the United States and Israel began the war, Iran has launched thousands of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, American bases and embassies in the region, and energy facilities in the Gulf; It even opened fire on Cyprus, Türkiye and Azerbaijan.
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, causing prices to rise more than 10 percent in a single week; Brent crude oil rose from $72 per barrel to over $82.
The average gas price rose 11 cents overnight Tuesday to $3.11, the largest single-day increase since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, AAA said.
Tehran’s strategy is simple: inflict enough casualties and economic pain on America’s allies to pressure Trump to back down.
The United States and Israel have launched hundreds of airstrikes on Iranian government, military and nuclear targets, killing 1,045 people inside Iran, according to Tehran.
Despite being vastly outgunned, Iran continued to fire ballistic missiles at Israel, killing 11 people and disrupting the lives of millions; More casualties were reported in Arab countries.
