Iran just installed a new supreme leader – and Trump told the world exactly what he thinks about it.
The regime chose Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the ayatollah our forces killed nine days ago, to replace his father.
Now Trump is staring down a man he already called a "lightweight" – and the clock on that man's survival just started.
Mojtaba Khamenei Ran the 2009 Green Movement Crackdown and Now He Controls the IRGC and Iran's Nuclear Program
This is not a new face with new ideas.
Mojtaba Khamenei has been the regime's iron fist for decades.
In 2009, when millions of Iranians flooded the streets demanding honest elections in what became the Green Movement, Mojtaba personally took control of the state response.
He relocated national security meetings to the Supreme Leader's own office so he could run the crackdown himself.
The Basij – the regime's paramilitary militia – went block by block through Tehran, beating demonstrators, firing into crowds, and hauling thousands into custody.
At least 40 people died in June alone.
Protesters in Tehran's streets chanted directly at him: "Mojtaba, we hope you die, so you never see the supreme leadership."
They were right to fear it.
His spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, issued a fatwa calling for the killing of Iranian youths who promoted "Western immorality."
The Basij carried it out.
That is the man now holding the title of supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.
He put his thumb on the scale of the 2005 presidential race to deliver the presidency to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then crushed the protest movement that erupted when Ahmadinejad stole the 2009 election too.
He spent decades building a hidden financial empire – luxury properties in London worth over $138 million, a mansion valued at $46 million, hotels in Frankfurt and Mallorca, accounts in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the UAE – all while Iranian families stood in bread lines.
Obama Abandoned the Green Movement in 2009 and Handed Mojtaba Khamenei the Power Trump Is Now Confronting in Operation Epic Fury
Barack Obama had a chance to stop this in 2009.
Millions of Iranians were in the streets.
The regime was shaking.
IRGC commanders admitted later that the Islamic Republic nearly fell.
Obama said nothing.
He was chasing a nuclear deal and didn't want to upset the mullahs.
Obama even admitted years later that he made a mistake by not supporting the Green Movement.
By then Mojtaba Khamenei had crushed it – and spent the next 17 years tightening his grip on every lever of power inside the regime.
Trump is not making the same mistake.
"He's going to have to get approval from us," Trump told ABC News on Sunday.
"If he doesn't get approval from us, he's not going to last long."
That is not a diplomatic statement.
That is a warning delivered in plain English to a man the U.S. Treasury sanctioned in 2019 for "advancing destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives."
Senator Lindsey Graham said what everyone in Washington is thinking: "I believe it's just a matter of time before he meets the same fate as that of his father."
Iran Just Made Trump's Next Decision Easier
The regime thinks installing Mojtaba is an act of defiance.
It is actually an act of desperation.
The Assembly of Experts voted under IRGC pressure, in an online session conducted while U.S. and Israeli bombs were falling outside.
Eight members threatened to boycott.
The hardliners shoved the vote through anyway.
That is not strength – that is a regime that has lost control of everything except its own terror apparatus, clinging to dynastic succession because it has no other idea.
Iran just created the first father-to-son transfer of power in the Islamic Republic's history – the very thing the 1979 revolution was supposed to make impossible.
They replaced a monarchy with another monarchy.
Putin pledged unwavering support the moment the announcement dropped.
China moved to shield Mojtaba from targeting.
Russia and China see exactly what this is – a wounded regime running to its oldest patrons because it has nowhere else to turn.
Trump ran the Venezuela playbook once already, capturing Nicolás Maduro and installing a cooperative government.
He compared Iran to Venezuela directly, telling Axios he needed to be involved in the leadership selection "like with Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela."
The mullahs picked the one man who validates every argument Trump has ever made about why this regime cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons, cannot be negotiated into good behavior, and cannot be allowed to rebuild.
Mojtaba Khamenei spent 30 years in the shadows building the machinery of oppression.
He is now standing in the light – and Trump already told him how this ends.
Sources:
- Fox News Staff, "US-sanctioned Mojtaba Khamenei named Iran's next supreme leader after father's death," Fox News, March 8, 2026.
- Jim Hoft, "Trump Says Iran's New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Is Not Going to Last Long Without U.S. Approval," The Gateway Pundit, March 9, 2026.
- Jonathan Swan, "Trump says he must be involved in picking Iran's next leader," Axios, March 5, 2026.
- National Interest Staff, "Who Is Mojtaba Khamenei?," National Interest, March 6, 2026.
- Atlantic Council Staff, "Why Khamenei's son is not the next radical modernizer in the Middle East," Atlantic Council, July 12, 2023.
