Shafaq News- Washington/ Tehran

US President Donald Trump on Monday said he is “not happy” with the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader, declining to say how Washington might respond.

Mojtaba, 56, the son of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, assumed the role after his father was assassinated during the ongoing war with the United States and Israel. He was elected by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body responsible for choosing Iran’s supreme leader.

Trump previously rejected Mojtaba’s candidacy, saying any leader who “continues [Ali Khamenei’s] policies” could push the United States back toward conflict. “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump earlier told Axios, referencing Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, who cooperated with Washington after the United States captured President Nicolas Maduro.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also warned that any new Iranian leader tied to the country’s ruling elite would remain “a legitimate target for elimination.”