“Most of the people we had in mind to lead Iran are dead,” Trump said Tuesday, shrugging at the dwindling list of potential successors to Tehran’s toppled regime.
Speaking beside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, the president refused to name names, noting that U.S. and Israeli strikes have steadily erased the first—and possibly second—generation of candidates.
“So I guess you’ve got a third wave coming in,” he added.
Doubts about Pahlavi
Trump also brushed off the idea of rallying behind exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. The 65-year-old son of Iran’s last Shah insists he’s “uniquely placed” to head a transitional government after 47 years outside the country.
“Some people like him,” Trump conceded, “but I don’t know whether his country would accept his leadership. If they would, that’s fine with me. We haven’t been thinking too much about that.”
Instead, Trump predicted any viable leader would surface from inside Iran itself.
The ‘Venezuela model’
Looking for a playbook, Trump pointed to recent U.S. pressure on Caracas.
“Venezuela was so incredible because we did the attack and we kept the government totally intact,” he said, praising his rapport with Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez. “We have the whole chain of command, and the relationship has been great.”
Country in free fall
The comments follow a blistering air campaign. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening wave, and Trump confirmed a second strike hit surviving figures on Tuesday. CENTCOM lists more than 1,700 Iranian targets destroyed since Saturday. The president estimates roughly 35,000 people have died in the crackdowns and counter-strikes. Pahlavi presses on
Unfazed by Washington’s cool tone, the crown prince—based outside D.C.—continues to court international support and is scheduled to address …
