By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters on Thursday the United States must be involved in choosing the next leader of Iran and said it would be “wonderful” if Iranian Kurdish forces based in Iraq were to cross into Iran to launch attacks on security forces there.
Trump said in a telephone interview that he thinks the next leader of Iran is unlikely to be the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, who has emerged as a frontrunner to succeed his father, who was killed in a military strike at the start of the war.
“We’re going to have to choose that person along with Iran. We’re going to have to choose that person,” Trump said.
Trump also encouraged Iranian Kurdish forces to go on the offensive, speaking six days after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Saturday. The conflict has killed more than 1,000 people, including at least six U.S. service members, and caused damage and instability throughout the Middle East.
“I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that, I’d be all for it,” the president said.
On leadership succession in the Islamic Republic, the Republican U.S. president drew a parallel to Venezuela, where U.S. forces removed President Nicolas Maduro in January, leaving in charge Delcy Rodriguez, his number two, who Trump said “has done a wonderful job.”
“We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future, so we don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again. We want somebody that’s going to be great for the people, great for the country,” Trump said.
He did not elaborate after saying that Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, who has emerged as a frontrunner to succeed him, was an unlikely choice.
Asked whether exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah, was a possibility, Trump said, “I think everybody’s in the mix. It’s very early.”
OPEN TO KURDISH INTERVENTION
When asked if the U.S. would provide or had offered air cover for Iranian Kurdish forces who are considering an intervention in western Iran, Trump responded, “I can’t tell you that,” but added that the objective for the Kurds would be “to win.”
“If they’re going to do that, that’s good,” Trump added.
Iranian Kurdish militias have consulted with the United States in recent days about whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces in the western part of the country, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.
The Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups based on the Iran-Iraq border in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan has been training to mount such an attack in hopes of weakening the country’s military, as the United States and Israel pound Iranian targets with bombs and missiles.
Trump also signaled confidence that the major shipping route near Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, will remain open.
WIDESPREAD DAMAGE, RISING ENERGY PRICES
Closing the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes, has been one of Iran’s main objectives, and shipping through the crucial energy artery has ground to a near halt after Iranian hits on six vessels.
“They have no navy, you know the navy is now at the bottom of the sea,” Trump said. “I’m watching Hormuz very closely.”
More tankers came under attack in Gulf waters on Thursday as the war escalated, and Iranian drones entered Azerbaijan, threatening to spread the crisis to more oil producers. Oil prices have jumped since the conflict began.
Trump said he was not concerned about rising gasoline prices. “They’ll drop very rapidly when this is over. And if they rise, they rise. But this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit,” he said.
Trump said he would not predict how long the conflict will last, but said it was moving along rapidly. “I would say it’s moving along ahead of schedule, and much stronger than anybody would have ever expected,” Trump said.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; writing by Costas Pitas, Bo Erickson and Patricia Zengerle; editing by Bhargav Acharya, Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)
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