President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the next leader of Iran should be someone from within the current regime, rather than Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the late shah.
Trump made the remarks during an impromptu press conference in the Oval Office with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Some people like him, and we haven’t been thinking too much about that. It would seem to me that somebody from within, maybe would be more appropriate,” Trump said when asked if Pahlavi would be an option to lead the country.
The United States and Israel launched a surprise joint operation against Iran on Saturday that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In response, Pahlavi has assured Iranians that under his leadership, “you will no longer face discrimination. You will be able to live freely, just like any other Iranian, while preserving your identity, and justly benefit from the blessings of a free Iran.”
But that has not currently earned the support of Trump.
“He looks like a very nice person, but it would seem to me that somebody that’s there that’s currently popular, if there’s such a person, but we have people like that. We have people that were more moderate,” Trump said of Pahlavi.
Pahlavi, the son of the last Iranian shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, also told Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures that he has “the support of millions of Iranian people.”
Germany was not part of the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran, but Merz claimed the U.S and Germany were on the same page.
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“We are on the same page in terms of getting this terrible regime in Tehran away,” Merz said.
“The military strikes are intended to put an end to the destructive game being played by a weakened regime. This is not without risk,” Merz also previously said about the strikes on Iran.