Cartoon by Elham Azar

Trump Says Iran Doesn’t Need To Be Democratic, Seeks Leader Who Will Treat US, Israel Well

By Onuado Cynthia

Leadership: United States President, Donald Trump, has said he is not concerned about whether Iran becomes a democratic state, but stressed that the country must have leadership that treats the United States and Israel fairly.

Trump stated this in a brief phone interview with CNN on Friday, saying Iran’s leadership had been weakened following recent military operations.

“Iran is not the same country it was a week ago,” Trump said. “A week ago they were powerful, and now they’ve been indeed neutered.”

The US president expressed confidence that a new leadership structure could emerge in Iran and suggested that Washington should play a role in the process.

He compared the situation to developments in Venezuela, where the United States earlier backed the removal of former leader Nicolás Maduro and supported his deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, as acting president.

“It’s gonna work very easily. It’s going to work like it did in Venezuela. We have a wonderful leader there. She’s doing a fantastic job. And it’s going to work like in Venezuela,” Trump said.

Trump also indicated he would not oppose a religious leader governing Iran if the individual is fair and cooperative with Washington and its allies.

“Well I may be yeah, I mean, it depends on who the person is. I don’t mind religious leaders. I deal with a lot of religious leaders and they are fantastic,” he said.

Pressed on whether the US was insisting on a democratic government in Iran, Trump responded: “No, I’m saying there has to be a leader that’s going be fair and just. Do a great job. Treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East — they’re all our partners.”

The president also highlighted his administration’s relations with Middle Eastern allies, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar, claiming ties improved significantly under his leadership.

“And I became very friendly with all those countries. That’s why they’re all fighting for us. Before I got involved, we didn’t even speak to UAE and Saudi Arabia. You know, (President Joe Biden) shut out. Biden and (President Barack Obama) shut Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar — he shut them all out,” Trump said.

Speaking on the US military operation against Iran, Trump rated the mission highly and dismissed concerns about rising global energy prices.

“That’s all right. It’ll be short term time. It’ll go way down very quickly,” he said.

He added that US forces had significantly weakened Iran’s naval capacity.

“We’ve knocked their Navy because, you know, when you knock out the Navy, they can’t do what they wanted to be able to do. The Navy is almost, we just hit about the 25 mark. Can you imagine that? Big ones — 25 ships are down,” Trump said.

Trump’s remarks come amid escalating tensions in the Middle East following US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets and growing debate about the future leadership and political structure of the country.