A rchive Date
[ 09-03-2026 ]
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[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iran ]
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[https://www.newsweek.com/trump-on-new-iran-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khamenei-11642307
What Trump Has Said About New Iran Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei
By Steve Mollman Weekend Editor
Mar 08, 2026 at 06:27 PM EDT
Iran has chosen its replacement for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed last weekend in coordinated strikes by the U.S. and Israel.
The new leader of the Islamic regime will be, as many expected, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba. However, it’s unclear how long he’ll hold the position, as U.S. President Donald Trump has already called him an “unacceptable” option.
Who Is Mojtaba Khamenei?
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was born in 1969 in Mashhad, about 10 years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. After the fall of the Shah, his family moved to Tehran. He fought in the Iran-Iraq war, the Associated Press reported.
He became an increasingly influential figure as his father took power in 1989. The AP reported U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks had described him as "the power behind the robes" and "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."
Mojtaba was an early frontrunner to become Supreme Leader, having been touted by many as his father's most likely successor long before the U.S. and Israeli strikes. He had studied with religious clerics in Qom, creating relationships with religious leadership, The New York Times reported. Many of the country's hard-liner clerics have supported his ascension.
What Has President Trump Said About Mojtaba Khamenei?
On Sunday, Trump told ABC News about the new leader: “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. We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it.”
Trump did not explicitly say the U.S. would remove Mojtaba Khamenei, but suggested any leader chosen without his administration's approval would face consequences.
Asked if he would approve someone with ties to the old regime, Trump said: "I would, in order to choose a good leader, I would, yeah, I would. There are numerous people that could qualify."
Trump also told Axios on Thursday, “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran...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.” He noted he was personally involved in leadership decisions there and intends to be similarly engaged with Iran.
He also told Reuters on Thursday: “We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future. We don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again.”
Meanwhile, U.S. officials have said the goal of the operations against Iran has been to diminish the nation's nuclear program and Navy, not regime change.
When asked by reporters about who he would like to see rule Iran earlier this week, Trump said, "Most of the people we had in mind are dead."
Supreme Leader Pick in Context
Iran has launched strikes against several other countries in the Middle East since the U.S. and Israel struck it last weekend. It has launched retaliatory strikes on Israel and Gulf Arab allies hosting U.S. forces, including bases in Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
On Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian drew rebukes from hardliners in his country for apologizing in a televised address about the retaliatory attacks conducted on neighboring states. In response to the apology, hardline cleric and lawmaker Hamid Rasai wrote in an X post that the apology was “weak, unprofessional, and publicly unacceptable.”
Rasai said the apology “has settled the matter for the Presidium of the Assembly of Experts and its members, so that they may as soon as possible introduce the future Leader, bring an end to the activities of this interim council, and guarantee the protection of the revolution of Imam Khomeini and the martyred Imam Khamenei.”
Trump said the strikes were intended to crush Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities and urged Iranians to overthrow their leaders once the operation ends, telling them to “take over your government.”
What People Are Saying
Ayatollah Heidari Alekasir, a hardline Iranian cleric, in a video statement published by Nour News, a semiofficial news agency: "The enemy did us a service regarding the Assembly of Experts and the one chosen by it. Even the Great Satan mentioned his name...whoever is praised by the enemy is certainly bad and should not be followed. And whoever is despised by the enemy is certainly for the benefit of Iran and Islam."
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, on Meet the Press last week: "That's not our job, to pick the next Iranian government. It's up to Iran to pick your leader. It's not my job; it's not President Trump's job. We're not going to occupy the country. We're going to give the people of Iran a chance to do something they've never had before: chart their own destiny.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast last week: "I don't think a regime has ever been changed by airpower alone. It's wishful thinking.” He added in a message to Trump, "Don't ever contemplate ground troops in Iran."
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