BY Rosemary
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he believes he should play a role in selecting Iran’s next supreme leader, an extraordinary suggestion made as American and Israeli forces continued a sixth consecutive day of intense military strikes against targets across Iran. At the same time, Tehran pressed ahead with retaliatory attacks across the Middle East, striking Israel, U.S. military installations and allied countries throughout the region.
Trump’s remarks came after the death of Iran’s longtime leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the opening phase of the war when U.S. and Israeli forces launched coordinated attacks aimed at crippling Iran’s military leadership and nuclear infrastructure. The unprecedented loss of the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader has thrown Iran’s political future into uncertainty and sparked speculation over who might take his place.
Speaking to the American news outlet Axios, Trump dismissed one of the leading contenders to succeed Khamenei — Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s son — calling the 56-year-old cleric “a lightweight.” Mojtaba Khamenei has long been rumored to hold influence within Iran’s political and security apparatus despite never holding an elected office or formal government position.
“We want someone who will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said in the interview, suggesting that the United States should have a say in determining who leads the country following the upheaval created by the war.
Trump compared the situation to recent developments in Venezuela, where he claimed U.S. involvement helped shape the country’s political leadership after a military operation that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro. In that case, Delcy Rodríguez assumed power earlier this year after Maduro was transported to the United States to face federal drug conspiracy charges.
The president’s comments are likely to intensify international debate about the ultimate objectives of the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran. Officials in both countries have said their primary aim is to dismantle Iran’s nuclear capabilities and weaken its military leadership, but statements such as Trump’s have raised fresh questions about whether the war could evolve into a broader effort to reshape Iran’s government entirely.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz added to that speculation earlier this week when he warned that whoever emerges as Iran’s next supreme leader could face deadly consequences if they continue to threaten Israel and its allies. Katz said any leader who persists in pursuing policies hostile to Israel or the United States “will be a target for elimination.”
Meanwhile, the conflict continued to expand rapidly across the region. Iranian forces launched waves of missiles and drones throughout Thursday, triggering air raid sirens in Israeli cities including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The Israeli military said it responded with another round of strikes against Iranian ballistic missile launch sites and other strategic targets across the country.
The fighting has also spilled far beyond the immediate battlefield. Iran has targeted locations across the Persian Gulf and nearby regions, striking countries allied with Washington and disrupting vital oil routes and international air travel.
The widening conflict has already drawn in at least 14 countries across the Middle East and surrounding areas. The escalating violence has led to hundreds of casualties and growing economic uncertainty, particularly in global energy markets.
According to officials in the countries involved, the war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 100 in Lebanon and roughly a dozen in Israel. Six American service members have also died in the fighting.
Tensions escalated further this week after the U.S. Navy sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. Iranian officials said the frigate IRIS Dena was destroyed earlier in the week while returning from a naval exercise hosted by India that included participation from both Iranian and American forces.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attack, accusing Washington of committing what he described as an “atrocity at sea.” In a message posted on social media, Araghchi warned that the United States would eventually “bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
Iranian authorities said nearly 130 sailors were believed to have been aboard the vessel at the time it was struck. Sri Lankan officials reported that 32 crew members had been rescued after the incident, while Iranian sources said at least 87 sailors were killed.
Sri Lanka confirmed that another Iranian warship had anchored off its coast on Thursday and that more than 200 Iranian sailors were being escorted to a naval facility outside the capital, Colombo. The vessel is expected to be moved to a port on the eastern side of the island nation, according to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
In Iran, some religious leaders responded to the escalating conflict with unusually aggressive rhetoric. Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, a senior cleric within Iran’s Shiite religious establishment, called on state television for violence against Israel and the U.S. president, marking a rare public appeal for such actions by a high-ranking religious figure.
Elsewhere in the region, several Gulf states reported coming under attack as Iranian missiles and drones targeted military installations and energy infrastructure.
Kuwait activated its air defense systems after missiles were launched toward the country, prompting the United States to temporarily close its embassy there as a precaution. Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted the American-allied state since the war began, and six U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday in a drone strike on a military facility in Kuwait.
In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said a drone was intercepted near Al Dhafra Air Base, which hosts American forces. Debris from the destroyed drone fell to the ground, injuring six people.
Qatar also reported a missile strike on its capital, Doha, after evacuating residents near the U.S. Embassy as a precautionary measure. Saudi Arabia said its air defenses shot down a drone near its northern border with Jordan.
Bahrain confirmed that an Iranian missile struck a state-owned oil refinery, triggering a fire that was later brought under control. Officials said the refinery continued operating and reported no casualties. The small Gulf kingdom said its forces have intercepted 75 Iranian ballistic missiles and 124 drones since the conflict began.
Further north, Azerbaijan accused Iran of launching a drone attack that crashed near the airport in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave bordering Iran. Another drone reportedly fell near a school, wounding four airport employees.
President Ilham Aliyev condemned the incident as “a groundless act of terror and aggression” and said Azerbaijan’s military had been instructed to prepare retaliatory measures. Iran denied responsibility for the drone attacks and has repeatedly rejected accusations that it is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure across the region.
The conflict has also disrupted critical shipping routes. Since hostilities began, multiple vessels have been attacked in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply is transported. The uncertainty has pushed global oil prices sharply higher and added pressure to international markets already strained by the widening war.
In Lebanon, Israel signaled that the conflict may soon intensify further. The Israeli military issued an evacuation order for residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, warning them to leave immediately in anticipation of possible heavy bombardment.
The area is widely considered a stronghold of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that joined the conflict during its early stages by launching attacks on Israel.
Israeli forces said they had already carried out strikes on what they described as Hezbollah command centers within the southern suburbs of Beirut. Military officials released video footage appearing to show a building being struck by missiles but offered no additional details about the targets.
United Nations peacekeepers stationed in southern Lebanon reported signs of escalating fighting along the border. A spokesperson for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon said observers had witnessed ground combat near the village of Kfar Kila overnight as Israeli troops pushed deeper into Lebanese territory.
Peacekeepers also reported airstrikes, flares lighting the night sky and explosions in the nearby town of Khiyam, roughly five kilometers from the Israeli border.
As the conflict continues to widen geographically and politically, world leaders are increasingly warning that the war between Iran, Israel and the United States could spiral into a much broader regional confrontation with unpredictable consequences for global security and the international economy.
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