Trump says he would be open to another religious leader in Iran |
Trump says he would be open to another religious leader in Iran
President Trump said on Friday that he would be open to having another religious figure to lead Iran following a joint U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week.
When asked by CNN’s Dana Bash in a phone interview if he would be okay with having another religious leader lead the country, Trump said “I may be, yeah.”
Trump said that new leadership in the country is “going to work like it did in Venezuela,” in reference to the U.S. taking out former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. But the logistical and political parameters surrounding each country are far differing. It is far more unclear if a band of U.S.-friendly leadership could emerge in Iran as it seem to have for the time being with Caracas.
The president’s latest comments come after he said in a separate phone interview with Axios on Thursday that he must be personally involved in the selection of Iran’s new leadership. What that looks like at this point is unclear.
Trump said the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei, is most likely to succeed his father, but that the pick would be “unacceptable” to him.
“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump told the outlet.
“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodríguez] in Venezuela,” the president said.
Rodríguez, Venezuela’s former vice president, became the country’s leader after Trump ordered U.S. strikes on Venezuela that resulted in the ousting and capture of Maduro. There have since been signs of some cooperation between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments.
Trump’s demand that he decide the next leader of Iran, however, could complicate efforts to end the conflict in that country, which was long run by the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran before the Iranian revolution. The shah’s rule was strengthened by a coup in 1953 backed by the U.S. and British governments in which the CIA was instrumental.
Trump told reporters Wednesday that any potential future Iranian leadership “ends up dead” in the ongoing war with Tehran.
“Their leadership is rapidly going. Everyone that wants to be a leader ends up dead,” he said.
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