President Donald Trump told Axios that he wants a say in who becomes Iran's next supreme leader — and he's already ruled out at least one top contender — as the United States and Israel press forward with a military campaign against Tehran.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday (March 3) while hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Trump said he prefers "somebody from within" Iran to succeed the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed last weekend in an Israeli airstrike targeting his offices. The strike also killed Khamenei's daughter-in-law, Zahra Haddad Adel.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of the late supreme leader, has emerged as a possible successor. But President Trump stopped short of endorsing him, expressing concern that the next leader could be just as hostile as his father.

"I guess the worst case would be we do this, and then somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person," Trump said. "That could happen. We don't want that to happen."

The president also dismissed exiled Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi as his top pick, saying, "It would seem to me that somebody from within, maybe, would be more appropriate."

Mojtaba Khamenei has never held an elected or officially appointed government position, yet U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks years ago described him as "the power behind the robes." One 2008 cable noted he was "widely viewed within the regime as a capable and forceful leader" but flagged his lack of theological qualifications as a hurdle.

The United States sanctioned Mojtaba Khamenei in 2019 during President Trump's first term for working to "advance his father's destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives." He is believed to be alive but has not been seen publicly since Saturday's (March 1) airstrike, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Now, with his father and wife regarded as martyrs by Iranian hardliners, his standing among the aging clerics of the 88-seat Assembly of Experts — the body that selects Iran's supreme leader — may have grown.

Whoever ultimately takes the role will command Iran's military, which is currently at war, and will have authority over the country's stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

President Trump acknowledged that the intense bombing campaign has complicated the search for a viable successor. Many of the more moderate Iranian officials the administration had considered are now dead.

"Most of the people we had in mind are dead," Trump said. "So, you know, we had some in mind from that group that is dead and now we have another group, they may be dead also — based on reports. So I guess you have a third wave coming in. Pretty soon we're not going to know anybody."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — which the U.S. designated a terrorist organization in 2019 — is expected to play a significant role in shaping who rises to power next. The IRGC controls Iran's ballistic missile arsenal and commands extensive wealth and influence across the country.

A three-man council is currently leading Iran in the interim, made up of President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei. Pezeshkian, who took office in 2024 as a reformer, has not been named publicly by Trump as a possible long-term successor.

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Chris Baker