The global political landscape was shaken this Sunday (8) by a declaration that defies the very foundations of international sovereignty. United States President Donald Trump openly stated that the future Supreme Leader of Iran will lack longevity in office unless he receives a direct endorsement from the White House. In an interview with ABC News, the American leader adopted an authoritarian tone by conditioning the political stability of a foreign nation on his personal approval, treating the succession process in Tehran as an extension of his own administration. Trump’s statement is not merely an opinion, but an ultimatum that ignores the existence of the Assembly of Experts and the right of the Iranian people to manage their own path.
Trump’s hostility has a central and well-defined target: Mojtaba Khamenei. The President described the late leader’s son as “dead weight” and an “unacceptable” figure for the interests of Washington and its allies, such as Israel. According to Trump, Iran needs someone who brings “harmony,” a euphemism that, in practice, demands the total capitulation of Iranian defense and sovereignty policies to American demands. Speaking to the website Axios, the Republican reinforced that Mojtaba is an option that would make Iran “waste time,” suggesting that the United States is prepared to intervene directly to ensure the chosen one is someone who bows to the new regional order proposed by his management.
On the other side, Tehran’s response was charged with indignation and resistance. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi used the spotlight of the program “Meet the Press” to denounce what he called criminal interference. Araghchi was emphatic in stating that the choice of successor is a sovereign and exclusive act of the 88 clerics of the Assembly of Experts. The Chancellor did not back down and demanded a formal apology from Trump, accusing the American president of being the intellectual and operational mastermind behind the destruction ravaging the Middle East, in addition to holding him responsible for every murder that has occurred in the region since the escalation of attacks in February.
