Trump Declines Statement On Supreme Leader, Says Only: ‘We’ll See What Happens’

March 08, 2026

US President Donald Trump declined to comment on the election of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader after previously saying the 56-year-old ayatollah was a “lightweight” and an “unacceptable” choice.

When asked in an interview with the Times of Israel conducted shortly after Iran announced Khamenei’s appointment, Trump said only, “We’ll see what happens.”

Khamenei succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the first day of joint US and Israeli air strikes on Iran on February 28.

Before Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment, Trump suggested the United States would demand a role in naming the new supreme leader and appeared to suggest the new ruler could meet the same fate as the previous one.

Trump told ABC News that “if he [the next supreme leader] doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.”

In the Times interview, Trump also said the decision on when to end the war would be done in consultation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but that he will make the final decision “at the right time.”

“I think [the decision] is mutual… a little bit. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” he said.

He also said that had he and Netanyahu not been in power, Iran would have destroyed Israel.

“Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it…We’ve worked together. We’ve destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel,” he was quoted as saying.

Trump declined to answer a hypothetical question as to whether Israel could continue the war against Iran even after the US decided to halt its attacks, but he added, “I don’t think it’s going to be necessary.”

The White House has said the war is likely to last four to six weeks following the February launch, although no specific deadline has been set.

Source: khamenei/33640284.html

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