Trump says Iran’s next supreme leader would need US approval

ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran’s next supreme leader would not remain in power without approval from Washington.

In an interview with ABC News, Trump said any new Iranian leader would need US sign-off or would not be going to "last long.”

He framed the remarks in strategic terms, saying he did not want the US to be forced into another conflict with Iran in the future.

“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,” Trump said.

When asked whether he would approve someone with ties to the old regime, Trump said he would be open to it. "There are numerous people that could qualify," he said.

Iranian officials rejected the comments. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that selecting the country’s next leader was “only the business of the Iranian people,” rejecting any foreign interference.

Senior cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda said the Assembly of Experts had already voted on a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but did not disclose a name.

Trump had previously told Axios he expected to be personally involved in the selection process, dismissing reported frontrunner Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain supreme leader, as “a lightweight.”

He claimed Iran had been planning to "take over the entire Middle East" before the strikes stopped them. Iran did not immediately comment on this allegation.

Trump also dismissed rising gasoline prices as a "little glitch," and said the US had sunk 44 Iranian ships, destroyed its air force, communications and air defense systems.

On a timeline, Trump declined to predict how long the war would last, saying only that operations were "ahead of schedule both in terms of lethality and in terms of time," walking back his earlier suggestion the campaign would wrap up in four to five weeks.

Trump also did not rule out deploying special forces to seize Iran's enriched uranium stockpile. "Everything is on the table. Everything," he said. The remarks followed media reports that the US and Israel had discussed sending special operations forces into Iran to secure highly enriched uranium during a later phase of the campaign.

Regional tensions escalated last week when the US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran that entered its ninth day Sunday and has reportedly killed more than 1,200 people.

Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and Gulf countries that host US military assets.