Photo caption: US President Donald Trump
President Trump said today that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next supreme leader, responding to reports that late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei is set to take the role.
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me,” Trump told Axios, while acknowledging that 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei was the most likely successor. “We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” he said.
The New York Times reported this week that the Assembly of Experts, a body tasked with selecting Khamenei’s replacement, was considering announcing Mojtaba as his father’s successor after meeting for deliberations. The newspaper cited three Iranian officials familiar with the discussions.
On Tuesday, semiofficial Iranian news agency Mehr news reported that Khamenei’s son was alive and well after the deadly strikes launched by the U.S. and Israel that killed his father and other family members, including Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife.
But Trump said in the interview: “I have to be involved in the appointment.”
“They are wasting their time,” Trump added. “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight.”
Asked Tuesday who could replace Khamenei, Trump told reporters at the White House that “most of the people we had in mind are dead.”
=== NBC News ===
