President Trump told multiple news outlets on Thursday that the United States "must participate" in the process of choosing Iran's next leader, flatly rejecting the prospect of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ascending to power. The elder Khamenei was eliminated in strikes on Iran this weekend as part of Operation Epic Fury, and now Washington intends to shape what comes next.
Trump did not mince words. Speaking with Reuters, he said America wants to ensure the next leader of Iran "is someone who does not pose a threat to America." In separate remarks to Axios, he was even more direct about the Assembly of Experts, the panel of top officials in Iran tasked with finding the next supreme leader.
"They are wasting their time. Khamenei's son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodríguez] in Venezuela."
According to Breitbart, he also spoke to NBC News, where he described the goal as wanting "to go in and clean out everything." Not a reset. Not a negotiation. A clean break from the regime that has destabilized the Middle East for decades.
Trump launched Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, a military operation intended to degrade Iran's ability to pose a threat to America and Israel. He announced Khamenei's death less than 24 hours after the operation began.
At press time, it is not entirely clear who is governing Iran. The country has a president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who has largely avoided the spotlight since the operation began. He emerged on Friday with a conciliatory tone:
"We are committed to lasting peace in the region."
He also added that Iran had "no hesitation in defending our nation's dignity & sovereignty." Given that the supreme leader, the ultimate decision-making authority in the country, is dead and the regime's military infrastructure has been degraded, those words carry considerably less weight than they would have a week ago.
Whatever restraint Pezeshkian may have signaled, the regime's actual behavior told a different story. On Saturday alone, Iran bombed eight of its neighbors:
It has since expanded attacks to include Azerbaijan. A regime supposedly committed to "lasting peace" lashed out at nearly every country within range. This is the behavior of a cornered government that knows its survival is no longer guaranteed and wants to burn as much of the neighborhood down as possible on its way out.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also announced it would bar traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesday, the IRGC said it would open the Strait, but only to its "friendly allies," including China. Iran has no such right under any interpretation of international law. It is an act of economic warfare dressed up in legalese, and the IRGC framed it with characteristic audacity:
"We had previously said that, based on international laws and resolutions, in times of war, the Islamic Republic of Iran will have the right to control the passage through the Strait of Hormuz."
Selectively opening a critical global waterway only to the Communist Party of China is not international law. It is an alliance of convenience between two regimes that view American strength as their primary obstacle.
Trump's reference to Delcy Rodríguez is worth pausing on. Rodríguez, a hardline communist who served as oil minister, foreign minister, and most recently vice president of socialist Venezuela, took over the country on January 3 after the United States arrested now-deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on narco-terrorism charges.
Rodríguez has shown herself more amenable to working with the United States and Trump. She welcomed the American Secretary of the Interior to Caracas this week. The message is clear: Washington removed a hostile leader and found someone who would engage. Trump sees Iran through the same lens.
That is the framework behind Trump's insistence on involvement. Speaking to Reuters, he laid out the logic plainly:
"We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future, so we don't have to go back every five years and do this again and again."
He told NBC News he did not want "someone who would rebuild over 10 years." He wants finality, not a pause.
On Friday morning, Trump declared on Truth Social that there would be no deal with Iran except "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER." He followed that with a vision that went beyond the military campaign:
"After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE."
Rumors have circulated that the Assembly of Experts has potentially chosen Mojtaba Khamenei as the next supreme leader. Trump's response to that prospect was unambiguous: "Khamenei's son is unacceptable to me. We want someone who will bring harmony and peace to Iran." Reuters described Trump as characterizing the rise of the younger Khamenei as unlikely, adding that "we're going to have to choose that person along with Iran."
Among the names reportedly in the mix is Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former shah. Trump also said the administration has "some people who I think would do a good job."
For decades, American foreign policy toward Iran oscillated between appeasement and containment. The Obama administration sent pallets of cash. The Biden administration unfroze billions. Each time, the regime pocketed the concession and continued funding proxies, developing weapons, and threatening its neighbors. The result was not peace. It was permission.
What Trump is describing is a fundamentally different posture. Not sanctions relief in exchange for promises. Not frameworks and timelines that the regime can run out the clock on. The supreme leader is dead, the military infrastructure is degraded, and the president of Iran is already talking about peace. The leverage exists now. The question is whether it gets used or squandered.
Trump clearly intends to use it. He wants a leader who will not revive the threat, will not require another military operation in five or ten years, and will engage with the United States rather than plot against it. Whether the Assembly of Experts cooperates or resists, Washington has made its position known.
Iran bombed eight countries in a single day and tried to close a global shipping lane. Its supreme leader is gone. Its president is calling for peace. And the man in the Oval Office says he gets a say in what comes next.
The old order in Tehran is not being reformed. It is being replaced.