&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Clean out': Trump wants Iran’s leadership removed, says THIS is his Khamenei successor pick. Find out who!")
US President Donald Trump on Thursday (Mar 5) indicated that he wanted to start from scratch in Iran and "clean out" the leadership. He hinted that he had some names in mind for a "good leader" who could take over from the Iranian leadership. Who does the POTUS want to lead Tehran? Here's what we know.
Step 1: "clean out everything"
In a telephonic interview with NBC News, Trump revealed US plans for Iran and said, "We want to go in and clean out everything". The US president said that they "don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period".
He described the leader as "good" and said that they "have some people who I think would do a good job".
But who does Trump want in power in Iran?
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Trump coyly refused to take any names but said that he was making sure that the people he had in mind survive the ongoing war between US-Israel and Iran. "We are watching them, yeah," he said.
Previously, he told NBC that while he doesn't know who would lead Iran next, "but at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like".
A power vacuum in Iran
Iran faces a power vacuum since the death of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint strike by Israel and the US. Khamenei's assassination was part of the coordinated airstrikes by Washington and Tel Aviv, with Israel calling the campaign Operation Lion’s Roar and Washington naming it Operation Epic Fury.
Khamenei's death was confirmed on March 1. The joint strikes which took him out also killed several senior Iranian figures.
Recent reports suggested that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been elected as the next Supreme Leader by Iran's Assembly of Experts. However, Iran on Mar 4 rubbished the reports. In a post shared via the Consulate General in Mumbai X account, Iran said that the "reports circulating on media regarding potential candidates for leadership selected by Iran's Assembly of Experts have no official source and are officially denied."
