‘Worst-case scenario’: Trump weighs replacing Khamenei as leader of Iran
Al Jazeera
Trump appeared to dismiss Reza Pahlavi as an option and sketched a vision of Iran’s government similar to Venezuela’s.
United States President Donald Trump has publicly mused about the leadership he would like to see in Iran following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
During an Oval Office appearance on Tuesday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, one reporter asked Trump what plans he had made for a “worst-case scenario” in Iran, as the US and Israel continue to wage war on the country.
Trump replied that he had few worries from a military standpoint, but he expressed concern that Khamenei could be succeeded by another leader unfriendly to US priorities.
“I guess the worst case would be we do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don’t want that to happen,” Trump said.
“It would probably be the worst. You go through this and then, in five years, you realise you put somebody in who is no better.”
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