US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he believes Washington should be involved in selecting Iran’s next ruler after the death of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran was “wasting its time” if it tried to appoint a successor without US involvement, Mr Trump told Axios and Reuters. He acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei, the slain leader’s son, is widely regarded as the most likely successor but dismissed that possibility, calling him a “lightweight.”
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Mr Trump told Axios, warning that choosing a leader who continued the previous government’s policies could lead to renewed conflict with the US “in five years".
He told Reuters the process of selecting a successor was in its early stages, but that Mr Khamenei was an unlikely choice.
“We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future,” Mr Trump said.
He was speaking on the sixth day of US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Tehran has fired salvos of missiles and drones at targets across the region, including US bases and embassies.
Mr Khamenei was killed on Saturday, the first day of joint strikes. Mr Trump has said most of the people his administration had considered as potential successors in Iran have also been killed.
Arming the Kurds?
Mr Trump appeared to voice support for Kurdish forces launching an offensive against Iran. “I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that. I’d be all for it,” he told Reuters.
Asked whether the US would provide air cover for any Kurdish offensive, Mr Trump replied: “I can’t tell you that.”
But many Kurds feel betrayed by Mr Trump. In Syria this year, the US stopped supporting them after backing them to fight ISIS for more than a decade.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied reports that the Trump administration had sought military support from Kurdish groups inside Iran or was working to foment a popular uprising.
“He did speak to Kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq,” she said. “But any report suggesting the President has agreed to such a plan is completely false and should not be written.”
Kurdish factions are widely regarded as the most organised part of Iran’s fragmented opposition and are believed to have thousands of trained fighters. If Kurdish groups in Iran and neighbouring Iraq were to enter the conflict, it would be the first involvement of a significant ground force.
Iran has designated several Kurdish opposition movements as terrorist organisations, and some previously fought Iranian security forces in Kurdish-majority areas near the western border.
Kurdish leaders, including those of groups linked to forces in Syria once backed by Washington, have sought US guarantees such as protection from foreign intervention and a no-fly zone over parts of north-western Iran.
Analysts warn that bringing Kurdish armed groups into the conflict could lead to wider instability in Iran, a country of more than 90 million people with large ethnic minorities including Azeris, Lurs, Kurds, Arabs, Baloch and Turkmen.
Kurdish communities have a long history of uprisings against the Islamic Republic and the former monarchy under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
