US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he must be personally involved in selecting the new leader of Iran, just like he was involved in the Venezuela where Delcy Rodriguez was installed as the country's interim president after Nicolas Maduro was abducted by American forces and flown out of the Latin American nation in a daring operation in January this year.
In an interview with Axios, the 79-year-old Republican president further stated that Mojtaba Khamenei, 56-year-old son of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be an “unacceptable” choice to succeed his father. He said this decision would force the United States (US) to be back in war in around “five years”.
"They are wasting their time. Khamenei's son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela," Trump said during the interview. "Khamenei's son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran."
Mojtaba Khamenei top candidate to replace his father
Mojtaba Khamenei is considered as the top candidate for the post of Iran’s next supreme leader after his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint strike by the US and Israel. The 56-year-old was born in 1969 in Mashhad, just 10 years before the Islamic Revolution in the country that led to the ended the rule of the Shah in Iran.
Mojtabad had even fought in the Iran-Iraq war with the Habib ibn Mazahir Battalion, which is a division of Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC). After his father became the supreme leader, his power began increasing in the country. According to a cable read in 2008, Mojtaba “is widely viewed within the regime as a capable and forceful leader and manager who may someday succeed to at least a share of national leadership.”
It must be noted that he was sanctioned by the US 2019 for working to “advance his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives.”
Iran continues to attack US bases
Meanwhile, Iran has continued to attack American bases in the Gulf in response to the US-Israel-led war that has killed at least 1,230 people in the Islamic Republic. Though the war has reached the sixth day, both the sides have refused to end it, with Iran even targeting its Arab neighbours and disrupting oil supplies.
Iran has vowed to take revenge for Khamenei’s death and urged its neigbhours to end American presence in the region. “Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a social media post.
