United States President Donald Trump has asserted that whoever succeeds as the next Supreme Leader of Iran will require the approval of the United States to remain in power, warning that the individual “is not going to last long” otherwise.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Trump stated that the United States is committed to ensuring that Iran’s leadership does not pose a long-term nuclear threat.
“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Trump said.
“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.”
The U.S. President further emphasized that his administration is seeking a permanent resolution to the concerns surrounding Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“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 stated.
When asked if he would consider supporting a potential leader with ties to the former Iranian regime, Trump indicated he would be open to the idea if the individual could guarantee stability.
“I would, in order to choose a good leader I would, yeah, I would,” Trump said.
“There are numerous people that could qualify.”
Trump also claimed that, prior to recent developments, Iran had planned to expand its influence across the Middle East.
“They are a paper tiger,” he said. “They weren’t a paper tiger a week ago, I’ll tell you. And they were going to attack. Their plan was to attack the entire Middle East, to take over the entire Middle East.”
The President additionally suggested that the United States has not ruled out military options, including the possibility of deploying special forces to secure Iran’ reprocessed uranium.
“Everything is on the table. Everything,” he said.
Trump’s comments come at a time when the Iranian clerical body responsible for selecting a successor to the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is reported to have finished its voting process and may soon announce a new leader.
