On March 5, 2026, in an exclusive interview with Axios, President Trump declared that he “must be involved” in selecting Iran's next Supreme Leader following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28.
Trump told Axios: “I have to be involved in the appointment.” He called Mojtaba Khamenei, the late Supreme Leader's son and the most likely successor chosen by Iran's Assembly of Experts, “a lightweight” and “unacceptable.” Trump compared the situation to Venezuela, where US forces captured President Maduro in January and a leader more amenable to the administration took power.
The assertion that an American president should choose the leader of a sovereign nation — one the US just bombed without Congressional authorization — is extraordinary by any historical standard. No American president has ever publicly claimed the right to select another country's head of state. Under the Iranian constitution, the Supreme Leader is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member elected council.
The statement reinforces critics' claims that the Iran war was always about regime change despite the administration's shifting justifications, and raises the question of what the US will do if Iran selects a leader Trump deems “unacceptable” — continue bombing?