By Spy Uganda
Donald Trump says he is “not happy” with the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader.
The United States president had warned repeatedly against electing the son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to lead the country as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran intensified.
“I’m not going through this to end up with another Khamenei. I want to be involved in the selection,” Trump told Time magazine on Friday.
Two days later, Iran’s Assembly of Experts did exactly that – it replaced the slain Khamenei with his 56-year-old son.
The decision was a show of defiance against the US president, who had been stressing for days that Iran would follow the path of Venezuela in selecting a leader willing to answer Washington’s demands.
“I think they made a big mistake,” Trump said on Monday of Khamenei’s appointment.
He also suggested that the new supreme leader may be targeted and killed like his father.
“I don’t know if it’s going to last. I think they made a mistake,” the US president said.
In an interview with the New York Post earlier, Trump declined to provide details about his plans for dealing with the new Iranian leader.
“Not going to tell you. I’m not happy with him,” he said.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump, also acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei was “not the change” the US was looking for.
“I believe it’s just a matter of time before he meets the same fate as that of his father — one of the most evil men on the planet,” Graham said on X.
The US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on February 28, killing Khamenei and several top officials in the opening strikes, which were followed by thousands of attacks that devastated the country and claimed the lives of more than 1,250 people.
Iran responded with hundreds of missiles and drone launches against Israel and US military assets across the Middle East.
Iranian attacks have also hit energy installations and civilian targets in the Gulf region and largely succeeded in closing down the Hormuz Strait – a major shipping lane for the oil trade.
War has also broken out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Despite the regional turmoil, which has led to a historic spike in oil prices, Trump has said that he is seeking Iran’s “unconditional surrender”.
He has also suggested that the war was “already won”.
The US president reiterated that sense of confidence on Monday, telling CBS News that the war is progressing “very far ahead of schedule”.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” Trump said, adding that Iran has “nothing left” militarily.
But Trump’s repeated assertions that Iran is on the verge of collapse and that he would be involved in choosing the country’s next leader were met by ridicule in Tehran.
On Friday, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran’s fate would be decided by Iranians themselves, not by Jeffrey Epstein’s “gang”, referring to the late sex offender who had ties to rich and powerful figures in the US.
Instead, Iran appears to have been able to withstand the initial onslaught despite the heavy blows it absorbed from the US and Israel.
There have been no major defections or significant protests against the ruling system since the war began. And the Iranian military has managed to keep steady fire against Israel and the region.
