Iran's new supreme leader will not "last long" unless he gets the approval of US President Donald Trump.
This is what Trump said to the American media ABC News on Sunday.
- He will have to get our approval, the president says.
- If he doesn't get our approval, he won't last long. We want to make sure we don't have to go back every ten years when you don't have a president like me who won't do it, he continues.
Iran is to have a new supreme leader after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been in power for several decades, was killed in US-Israeli attacks on February 28.
Mohsen Heydari, a member of the Assembly of Experts tasked with selecting the new leader, told the Iranian news agency Isna that Khamenei's successor had been named.
However, the name of the successor has not yet been made public.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump told the media outlet Axios that he would personally help select Iran's new supreme leader.
On Sunday, ABC News asked the president if he would be willing to approve someone with ties to the old regime.
- I would, to choose a good leader, I would, yes, I would. There are several people who could qualify, Trump replied.
The same day, Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that "it is up to the Iranian people to choose their new leader".
- We do not allow anyone to interfere in our internal affairs, he tells American NBC News.
Whoever becomes Iran's new leader will be both the country's supreme religious leader and the supreme political leader.
Among those considered to have the greatest chance of being elected as Iran's next leader is Mojtaba Khamenei.
He is the son of Ali Khamenei, has close ties to the Revolutionary Guard, is influential, but has so far been a withdrawn figure in the Iranian power apparatus, according to the newspaper The New York Times.
Another possible candidate is Alireza Arafi, who is an imam and lawyer and one of three members of the transitional council that has led Iran since Ali Khamenei died.
Sayed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic and Ali Khamenei's predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is also a candidate for a successor, according to The New York Times.
/ritzau/
