Washington — President Trump told Fox News that he’s “not happy” with Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
Khamenei was named Iran’s new leader over the weekend, according to Iranian state media, taking the place of his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the war. “Fox and Friends” host Brian Kilmeade said he spoke with the president by phone Sunday, and Mr. Trump said, “I am not happy,” with Mojtaba Khamenei’s ascendance.
Last week, Mr. Trump called Khamenei a “lightweight” who would be “unacceptable” to lead Iran. The president has said more than once that he wants to be involved in approving Iran’s new leadership.
“Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” the president told Axios last Thursday. “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the interim president of Venezuela who assumed power after the U.S. captured and arrested Nicolás Maduro.
The president has said the worst-case scenario in Iran would be for the country to end up with a leader even worse than before the U.S. intervened.
“I guess the worst case would be we do this and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right?” he said last week. “That could happen. We don’t want that to happen. That would probably be the worst.”
He’s also said the role of Iranian leader, for now, is a very short one.
“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” the president told ABC News on Sunday, referring to Iran’s next leader, before Khamenei was named. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.”
Khamenei, 57, worked quietly behind the scenes while his father was in charge, and he has deep ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.