Trump Signals US Influence Over Iran’s Next Leader as War Expands

US President Donald Trump has again suggested that Washington should have a say in who leads Iran, saying any future supreme leader chosen without American approval “is not going to last long”.

The remarks came on Sunday, hours before Iranian state media reported that the country’s Assembly of Experts had selected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s new supreme leader. The elder Khamenei was killed shortly after the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran on February 28, triggering a regional war.

Trump did not immediately comment on Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment specifically, but earlier made clear that he believed Washington should have influence over the outcome.

“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Trump told ABC News, referring to a possible new supreme leader. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.”

The president also framed the war in strategic terms, suggesting that the goal was to avoid future confrontations.

“I don’t want people to have to go back in five years and have to do the same thing again, or worse, let them have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Iranian officials have rejected the idea that the United States could influence the leadership selection process. Tehran has repeatedly emphasized that the decision rests solely with Iranian institutions.

Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated that point.

“we will allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs”.

“This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader,” he said, noting that the Iranian public had previously elected the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for selecting the supreme leader.

Some analysts see the choice of Mojtaba Khamenei as a direct political message to Washington. Barbara Slavin, a fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, said Trump had previously indicated he would oppose the younger Khamenei becoming Iran’s next leader.

“It’s a real finger in the eye to Donald Trump,” said Slavin.

She added that the appointment may also deepen scepticism about the war among the American public.

“It’s going to increase the sense in the United States that this war was a mistake,” she said.

The leadership announcement came as the conflict continued to widen. Shortly after news of Mojtaba Khamenei’s selection emerged, the Pentagon confirmed that a seventh US soldier had died since the start of the war.

According to a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM), the soldier had been wounded during “an attack on US troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1” and died on Saturday.

Further details about the incident were not immediately released.

Casualties across the region continue to rise. Iranian officials say the death toll inside the country has reached 1,332, while at least 11 people have been killed across Gulf states and another 11 in Israel.

The Trump administration has offered several explanations for the war, repeatedly pointing to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, its ballistic missile program and its broader regional activities since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Critics, including most Democratic lawmakers in the United States, argue that the administration has not presented clear evidence that Iran posed an immediate threat.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts appear to have stalled. Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi, who had been facilitating indirect talks between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program, said negotiations had been progressing before the conflict erupted.

Speaking during a meeting of the Arab League, Albusaidi said diplomatic efforts aimed at a “fair and honourable solution were making progress” before the US-Israeli attacks began.

He warned that the region now faces “a dangerous turning point” as the fighting escalates.

Military operations on both sides have continued to expand. US and Israeli forces have, for the first time, targeted oil storage and refining facilities in Tehran, while Iran has carried out additional attacks across the Gulf.

One such strike involved a drone that caused material damage to a desalination plant in Bahrain.

Reports from Bloomberg and Axios suggest the United States and Israel have also discussed the possibility of a special ground operation to seize Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said securing the nuclear material is “on our radar screen, and we’re going to take care of it”.

At the same time, the Trump administration has sought to calm fears about the economic impact of the war, particularly rising energy prices.

The issue carries political risks as Republicans prepare for congressional midterm elections later this year.

Speaking to Fox News, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt described the situation as a “short-term disruption”.

She said the administration was “tapping into our newfound market in Venezuela”, referring to expanded US access to the country’s oil sector after the January 3 US operation that resulted in the abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Energy analysts have cautioned that restoring Venezuela’s oil production could take years, raising questions about whether it can offset immediate shortages.

US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright also sought to reassure markets. Speaking on Face the Nation, he said the conflict would not last long and dismissed concerns about a broader energy crisis.

“There’s a temporary period of elevated energy prices”, Wright said, while insisting there was no shortage “at all in the Western Hemisphere”.

He added that the United States still has roughly 400 million gallons of oil in its strategic petroleum reserves and is ready to use it if necessary.

“What you want is emotional reactions and fear that this is a long-term war,” Wright said. “This is not a long-term war; it’s a temporary movement.”

Trump has suggested the military campaign against Iran could last “four to five weeks”, though he has also acknowledged that the conflict has “no time limit”.