President Donald Trump has warned that Iran's newly chosen supreme leader will not survive in the role without approval from the United States. In an interview with ABC News, Trump said the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US and Israeli airstrikes, must get Washington's backing.
"He's going to have to get approval from us. If he doesn't get approval from us, he's not going to last long," Trump said. He added that the US wanted to avoid having to intervene again in a decade, suggesting that without his leadership, future presidents might not take similar action.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, dismissed Trump's remarks, telling NBC's 'Meet the Press' that no one knows who the new leader will be. "We allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs. This is up to the Iranian people," Araghchi said.
Reports from Iranian media indicate that the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for selecting the supreme leader, has reached a majority consensus on a candidate. However, some obstacles remain, and the assembly may not meet in person due to security concerns after recent strikes flattened a building in Qom.
One senior cleric, Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, said the chosen successor is someone the US 'hates,' referencing Trump's earlier rejection of Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader's son, as an 'unacceptable' choice. The cleric suggested the candidate was selected based on the late supreme leader's advice that Iran's top leader should be hated by the enemy.
