Trump says he needs to be involved in selecting Iran's next leader, Axios reports

He describes Khamenei’s son as ‘unacceptable’

US President Donald Trump attends a roundtable on the Ratepayer Protection Pledge in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) on the White House campus in Washington, DC, US, Mar 4, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

US President Donald Trump told Axios on Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran's next leader.

"Khamenei's son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran," Axios quoted Trump as saying in an interview.

"I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy (Rodriguez) in Venezuela," Trump said.

Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran's late Supreme Leader, has survived the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in which his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

A mid-ranking cleric with close ties to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, hardliner Mojtaba is one of the most influential figures in the Iranian clerical establishment and is seen as a possible successor to his father.

Iran has not yet announced a new leader.