World · 5 March 2026
Trump wants personal role in choosing Iran's next Supreme Leader
Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
President Trump told Axios he must be personally involved in selecting Iran's next supreme leader, dismissing Mojtaba Khamenei — son of assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — as a 'lightweight' and 'unacceptable'. He compared it to his intervention in Venezuela, where Delcy Rodriguez took power after US forces captured Nicolás Maduro. Iran's 88-member Assembly of Experts is constitutionally responsible for choosing a new leader, but no formal announcement has yet been made.
Reported by Axios · How we write briefs