US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he expects to have a personal say in choosing Iran's next leader, comparing it to his role in selecting Venezuela's post-Maduro leadership.
"I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy (Rodriguez) in Venezuela," Trump told Axios, dismissing Mojtaba Khamenei — the son of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a reported frontrunner to succeed him — as "a lightweight."
Trump made clear he would not accept a successor who continued the late supreme leader's policies, warning that this would drag the US back to war "in five years." "We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran," he said in a phone interview.
Iran has not yet announced a new supreme leader since Khamenei, alongside dozens of other senior Iranian officials, was killed after the launch of joint US-Israeli joint attacks on Saturday.
Though he holds no formal public office, Mojtaba Khamenei is widely regarded as the most influential of Khamenei's children and was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2019. He has also been linked to the Basij force used to suppress protests after Iran's disputed 2009 election.
Under Iran's Constitution, the 88-member Assembly of Experts is responsible for selecting a successor, while a temporary council assumes leadership duties in the interim.
Trump once again asked Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the former "a disgrace" for failing to act.
"The president should give Bibi the pardon today," Trump told Axios, claiming Herzog had promised him five times over the past year to grant the pardon but never did. "He has held it over Bibi's head for a year," Trump said, adding that he refused to meet Herzog until the pardon was granted.
Trump said he wanted Netanyahu to focus solely on the war against Iran and be free from any domestic legal pressure. "I want the only pressure on Bibi to be the fighting against Iran," he said.
A senior Israeli official, however, pushed back on Trump's account, saying Herzog never made such a promise. The official said the president told Trump advisers that he would consider the request in line with legal procedures. "At a time when we are all mobilized, the president is not dealing with the issue of a pardon," Herzog's office said.
Netanyahu is involved in a long‑running domestic corruption trial in Israel for charges relate to favors and benefits he allegedly received in exchange for regulatory or political advantages.
