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President Donald Trump said he wants to see Iran's leadership structure fully removed following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has several names in mind for a "good leader" to replace him.
"We want to go in and clean out everything," Trump told NBC News during a phone call on Thursday (March 5). "We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period."
“We want them to have a good leader. We have some people who I think would do a good job,” he added without naming anyone.
The president also confirmed that he was taking steps to ensure that the people considered for the position would make it through the ongoing war with Iran alive.
"We are watching them, yeah," he told NBC News.
Trump had previously addressed questions about Iran's next leader during an interview with NBC News last Saturday (February 28), the same day that Khamenei was killed by the U.S. military.
“I don’t know, but at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like,” he said, noting that he was “only being a little sarcastic when I say that.”
Trump also gave a response to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghci's claim during an appearance on NBC Nightly News that his country was prepared for a ground invasion by American and Israeli forces, which the president called a "wasted comment" and denied that an invasion was something he was considering at this time.
“It’s a waste of time. They’ve lost everything. They’ve lost their navy. They’ve lost everything they can lose,” Trump said while confirming that the pace and intensity of strikes would continue.