NTD NewsPresident Donald Trump said Tuesday that the next leader of Iran should be a person “from within,” amid speculation that the exiled son of the late shah could be tapped for the role. There has been speculation that Reza Pahlavi, the heir of the House of Pahlavi that formerly led Iran, could return to the country and lead it after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S. airstrikes over the weekend.
Pahlavi, former crown prince and the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, recently said he would want to lead Iran in a transition to democracy if the current regime collapses. “Some people like [Pahlavi], and we haven’t been thinking too much about that. It would seem to me that somebody from within, maybe would be more appropriate,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Trump said Pahlavi “looks like a very nice person, but it would seem to me that somebody that’s there, that’s currently popular, if there’s such a person, but we have people like that.” Without providing more details, Trump also said, “We have people that were more moderate.”
