Trump says he is not happy with Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's Supreme Leader: 'big mistake'

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said on Monday (9) that he is not happy with the choice of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader of Iran.

“The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said on Monday (9) that he is not happy with the choice of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader of Iran”

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He told the New York Post "I am not happy with him" and told NBC that the choice of Khamenei's son is a "big mistake."

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Mojtaba was named a week after the death of his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, "at the start of the war against Tel Aviv and Washington,".

He was chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of 88 clerics elected in 2024.

Last Tuesday (3), the United States and Israel struck the Assembly of Experts building.

There was no information about the presence of the clerics at the site.

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After the attack, the American president said that "all the people his government had in mind to take command of Iran after the end of the war 'are dead,'" a claim he did not specify further.

He did not say who those people would be nor under what circumstances they died.

Trump has also been urging Iranians to rise up against the Islamic Republic, which the article says is 'holding out despite the death of its top authority and high-ranking politicians.'

Trump said he was 'nowhere near' deciding about sending ground troops to Iran and told reporters, 'We have not made any decision about that. We are nowhere near that,' when asked.

“The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said on Monday (9) that he is not happy with the choice of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader of Iran”

Folha de S.Paulo

The article reports that over the weekend he signaled sending American forces to Iran under certain circumstances was being considered, telling reporters on Air Force One he would send troops only for a 'very good reason' and if the Iranian Armed Forces were 'so decimated that they could not fight on land.'

He added that sending troops to secure Iran's stocks of enriched uranium could be done 'later,' though the US would not do it 'now.'

Trump administration officials, the article states, insist the president would never rule out any option and that the war plan against Iran does not currently involve sending ground troops.