Trump vows control over Iran leaders as officials seek to calm oil concerns
Al Jazeera
Any new supreme leader in Iran will ‘not last long’ without US approval, Trump says; officials say oil disruptions ‘temporary’.
United States President Donald Trump has again promised to exert influence over who is selected as Iran’s next Supreme Leader, saying that, without Washington’s approval, whoever is picked for the role is “not going to last long”.
The statement on Sunday came just hours after a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said the clerical body had selected the replacement for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the hours after the US and Israel launched the war with Iran on February 28.
“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Trump told ABC News, referring to a new supreme leader. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.”
Trump added that he didn’t want future administrations to have “to go back” in the years ahead, an apparent reference to future military action.
“I don’t want people to have to go back in five years and have to do the same thing again, or worse, let them have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
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