As U.S. and Israeli strikes continued to reshape Iran's military and political landscape one week into the conflict, President Donald Trump made clear in a series of interviews on Thursday that Washington intends to have a direct hand in determining who leads Iran once the war ends — and that at least one prominent candidate is already off the table.

Speaking in a phone interview with Axios, Trump stated that Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was "unacceptable" as a successor. "They are wasting their time," Trump said. "Khamenei's son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela."

The comments were among the most direct Trump has made regarding the political future of Iran, a country whose top leadership and military infrastructure have been systematically targeted since the joint U.S.-Israeli operation launched on February 28.

The Venezuela Parallel

Trump returned repeatedly across multiple interviews to the situation in Venezuela as a blueprint for what he envisions in Iran. Earlier this year, Trump ordered a U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was extradited to the United States on federal drug charges. Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, subsequently took power, and there have since been signs of cooperation between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments.

Trump described the Venezuela model as the template he intends to apply in Tehran. "It's going to work very easily. It's going to work like it did in Venezuela. We have a wonderful leader there. She's doing a fantastic job," Trump said of Rodríguez, in a CNN interview on Friday.

In a separate conversation with Politico, Trump elaborated on the stakes of that comparison. "I'm going to have a big impact, or they're not going to have any settlement, because we're not going to have to go do this again," he said. "We'll work with the people and the regime to make sure that somebody gets there that can nicely build Iran but without nuclear weapons."

The thrust of Trump's position is that any post-war settlement depends on Washington's approval of whoever takes control in Tehran — and that a continuation of the Khamenei family's grip on power would not qualify as an acceptable outcome.

Who Is Mojtaba Khamenei?

The younger Khamenei has long been a figure of considerable, if largely backstage, influence within the Iranian clerical establishment. Mojtaba Khamenei has never held public office and has long-standing ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He was accused in the 2000s of rigging presidential elections to ensure the appointment of conservative regime allies, and was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019 for working to "advance his father's destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives."

Reports from inside Iran indicated that hardline factions within the 88-member Assembly of Experts — the body constitutionally tasked with selecting the supreme leader — were pushing for Mojtaba's appointment as a statement of continuity. Trump dismissed the prospect bluntly. In a Politico interview, he noted that even Khamenei himself had reservations about passing power to his son. "The reason the father wouldn't give it to the son is they say he's incompetent," Trump told the outlet.

Israel's position was equally unambiguous. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated this week that Iran's next supreme leader, if he continues to threaten Israel and its allies, "will be a target for elimination."

Open to Religious Leadership, Not Democracy

While Trump drew a firm line against Mojtaba Khamenei, he signaled flexibility on the broader nature of Iran's future governance. When asked in a CNN interview on Friday whether he would accept another cleric leading the country, Trump responded affirmatively. "I may be, yeah. I mean, it depends on who the person is. I don't mind religious leaders. I deal with a lot of religious leaders, and they are fantastic," he said.

He was equally clear that he was not demanding a democratic transition. "No, I'm saying there has to be a leader that's going to be fair and just. Do a great job. Treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East — they're all our partners," Trump told CNN.

The president also stated a preference for someone who emerged from within the existing system rather than an outside figure. Earlier in the week, Trump said he would be comfortable with "somebody from within" stepping into the vacuum, suggesting "somebody that's there, that's currently popular, if there is such a person." He had also told reporters Wednesday that Reza Pahlavi — the son of the deposed Shah and an increasingly visible figure among the Iranian diaspora opposition — was not someone the administration had considered in depth.

The Succession Process — and Its Complications

Under Iranian constitutional law, the selection of a new supreme leader falls to the Assembly of Experts. But that process has been complicated by the war itself. Days after Khamenei's death, a building housing members of the Assembly was struck while deliberations were reportedly underway. Iranian state television confirmed on Friday that a leadership council had begun discussing how to convene the body.

In the interim, Iran has been governed by a three-man council consisting of President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, and senior cleric Alireza Arafi.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have all stated that Trump is not pursuing regime change in Iran. Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that "regime change is not a phrase that we use again," while simultaneously acknowledging that the administration does not want Iran led by what she described as "a rogue terrorist regime."

The apparent tension between those two positions — official denials of regime change as a stated war aim alongside Trump's direct assertion that he must be involved in selecting the next leader — has not been resolved. Trump himself offered the clearest synthesis of his thinking in a Truth Social post on Friday, writing that there would be "no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender" followed by "the selection of a great & acceptable Leader(s)" before the United States and its allies would assist in rebuilding the country.