Trump says nobody knows who is running Iran
USO•Donald Trump said nobody knows who is running Iran during the US-Israeli war, now in its eighth month. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Washington knows who its counterpart is and criticized contradictory positions and mixed messaging from US officials.
1. Trump comments on leadership
Trump said Iran’s leaders and their successors were gone and that nobody knows who is running the country. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei responded that Washington knows its counterpart and how Iran’s decision-making system works, adding that the problem is contradictory positions and mixed messaging from US officials.
2. War and its effects
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the war, which began on February 28. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, succeeded him but has not appeared in public since being injured in the same strike. Iran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states hosting US bases; strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.
3. Fuel prices and elections
Fuel prices have risen in response to the war, posing a risk to Trump’s Republican Party ahead of the November US midterm elections, where control of Congress is at stake. Trump has offered shifting timelines and goals for the war.
