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Trump rejects Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s Supreme Leader successor

The U.S. president says the son of Ali Khamenei is “unacceptable” and insists he must be involved in choosing Iran’s next Supreme Leader

U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected the possibility that Mojtaba Khamenei could become Iran’s next Supreme Leader, saying the son of the late Ali Khamenei would be “unacceptable” as the country’s new top authority.

Speaking in an interview with Axios, Trump dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a potential successor after his father was killed during the first wave of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran. “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” the president said.

Trump rejects Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s Supreme Leader successor even as the clerical establishment in Tehran continues deliberations on who will replace the late ayatollah. Mojtaba Khamenei, a mid-ranking cleric with strong ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is widely considered one of the most likely candidates for the position, although no official decision has been announced.

The U.S. president also insisted that Washington must have a direct role in shaping the choice of Iran’s next leader. “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 in the interview.

Trump rejects Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s Supreme Leader successor because, according to the White House, installing a leader who continues the policies of the previous regime could trigger renewed conflict between Tehran and Washington within a few years.

The president also returned to another issue linked to the ongoing war in the region. In a phone interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Trump renewed his request that Isaac Herzog grant a pardon to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Trump, Netanyahu should be free from legal pressures in order to focus entirely on the war with Iran.

Trump said he had raised the matter with Herzog repeatedly over the past year and described the Israeli president’s reluctance to act as unacceptable.

Meanwhile, Iran continued to issue warnings as the conflict entered its sixth day. Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accused Washington of threatening a ground invasion and warned that any such move would come at a heavy cost.

“The brave youth raised in the school of Imam Khomeini and Imam Khamenei are ready to humiliate these evil American invaders,” Larijani wrote on X, adding that thousands of casualties could be inflicted on invading forces.

At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi renewed accusations against Israel over a drone strike that hit the airport in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, wounding four people.

In a phone call with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Araghchi denied that Tehran was responsible for the attack and instead blamed Israel. Iranian officials said the alleged strike was aimed at diverting international attention and damaging relations between Iran and its neighbors.

In a separate post on X, Araghchi also addressed Trump directly, warning that Washington’s strategy against Tehran was failing.

“Plan A for a quick and decisive military victory has failed, Mr. President,” he wrote. “Your Plan B risks becoming an even greater failure.”

Araghchi added that the possibility of reaching a comprehensive agreement between the United States and Iran had disappeared when what he called the “America Last” faction in Washington derailed negotiations that had made “significant progress.”

Those talks had included three rounds of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington held in Oman and Switzerland.

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