WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran should be led by someone “from within” the country after the end of the ongoing war, adding ing that the son of the late shah Reza Pahlavi may not be the best option.
“He (Pahlavi) seems like a very nice person. But it seems to me that someone from within might be better,” Trump told reporters at the White House during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Trump was referring to Pahlavi, the 65-year-old son of Iran’s last shah, who has positioned himself as a potential interim leader following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on Saturday.
Asked about the risks of the military campaign against Iran, Trump said his biggest concern would be a change in leadership that fails to improve the situation.
“I guess the worst case would be we do this and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don’t want that to happen,” Trump said.
“You go through this and then in five years, you realise you put somebody in who was no better.”
Trump said the United States and Israel had largely neutralised Iran’s military capabilities.
“We have them very much beaten militarily, from the military standpoint. They’re still lobbing some missiles,” he said.
“They won’t even be able to do that because we’re hitting all of their carriers. We’re hitting all of their missile stock … and we’re knocking out a lot.”
He added: “They have no navy; it’s been knocked out. They have no air force; it’s been knocked out. They have no air detection – that’s been knocked out.”
Shifting rationales for Iran war
The US and Israel launched their offensive against Iran on February 28.
Iran has since carried out retaliatory missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases across the Middle East.
The reported death toll in Iran has reached at least 787 people. At least six US service members have also been killed.
Trump has offered varying justifications for the campaign.
In a statement over the weekend, he said the action aimed at “eliminating imminent threats from Iran” and called on Iranians to “take over your government”.
However, other officials have sought to downplay regime change as an objective.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday: “This is not a so-called regime change war. But the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it.”
Trump said on Tuesday that he had ordered the strike because he “had a feeling” Iran would attack first as nuclear negotiations stalled.
Asked whether Israel had forced his hand, he replied: “No, actually, I might have forced their hand.”
Earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said the United States acted because it believed Israel was about to strike Iran and feared Tehran would retaliate against US facilities.
Trump cites Venezuela as model
Trump also pointed to his recent intervention in Venezuela as a possible model.
On January 3, he authorised a military action that led to the removal of President Nicolas Maduro.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are currently in New York awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges.
Following Maduro’s removal, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as interim leader. Trump said the transition had been “seamless”.
“Venezuela was so incredible because we did the attack, and we kept government totally intact,” he said.
“We have Delcy, who’s been very good. We have the whole chain of command.”
He added that the United States had extracted significant oil supplies since then.
“We’ve taken out a hundred million barrels of oil already. And a big part of that goes to them, and a big part goes to us,” Trump said.
“We paid for the war many times over, and we’re going to be running the oil.”
Europe divided
During the Oval Office appearance, Trump criticised Britain for not fully backing the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
“I’m not happy with the UK,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
Britain did not join the strikes but allowed US forces to use UK bases.
Trump said landing arrangements had been delayed and criticised London over its decision to return the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia, to Mauritius under a lease agreement.
“I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have,” he said.
Trump also threatened to cut off trade with Spain after Madrid refused permission for two jointly operated bases to be used in US strikes.
“Spain has been terrible,” he said. “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
Earlier, Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said the bases operate under Spanish sovereignty within the framework of bilateral treaties.
German Chancellor Merz voiced support for the US-Israeli campaign but expressed concern about its economic impact.
“This is, of course, damaging our economies. This is true for the oil prices, and this is true for the gas prices, as well,” Merz said.
“That’s the reason why we all hope that this war will come to an end as soon as possible.”
Merz said Germany and the United States were aligned on removing Iran’s current leadership.
“We are on the same page in terms of getting this regime in Tehran away, and we will talk about the day after,” he said.
