US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he needs to be “involved” in selecting Iran’s next leader, days after US-Israeli strikes killed the country’s longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The statement was a clear indication that the US intends to have a hand in the shaping of the country’s future leadership, amid shifting signals over whether the US-Israeli campaign is seeking regime change. Trump likened his planned involvement to US influence over Venezuela’s government after Trump ordered the seizure of its president, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this year.

At the same time, Trump brushed off reports in recent days that Mojtaba Khamenei, the late supreme leader’s son, has been tapped as a frontrunner.

“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” Trump told Axios in a phone interview, adding later, “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”

Trump said, “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela,” who is currently leading that country.

In a separate interview with Politico, Trump said of the elder and younger Khamenei: “The reason the father wouldn’t give it to the son is they say he’s incompetent.”

He also told Politico, “I’m going to have a big impact [over Iran’s future leadership], or they’re not going to have any settlement, because we’re not going to have to go do this again.”

“We’ll work with the people and the regime to make sure that somebody gets there that can nicely build Iran but without nuclear weapons,” he told Politico.

Trump said on Wednesday that Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former shah, who is trying to position himself as a leader should Iran’s Shiite theocracy fall, is not someone that his administration has considered in depth to take over leadership in Iran.

“It would seem to me that somebody from within, maybe, would be more appropriate,” Trump said in comments to the press at the White House, adding that it may make sense for “somebody that’s there, that’s currently popular, if there is such a person” to emerge from the power vacuum.

Trump on reported Kurdish offensive: ‘I’d be all for it’

Speaking to Reuters, Trump said he’d welcome Kurdish opposition groups launching an offensive against the Iranian regime, after recent reports that the US has been backing such an effort.

“I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that, I’d be all for it,” the US president said.

When asked if the US would provide or had offered air cover for such an operation, he responded, “I can’t tell you that,” but added that the objective for the Kurds would be “to win.”

“If they’re going to do that, that’s good,” Trump added.

Axios reported this week that Trump held a telephone call with two of Iraqi Kurdistan’s top leaders. Two sources told Reuters that Kurdish militias are in talks with the US about the CIA helping to provide weapons.

Iran said Thursday it had attacked Kurdish forces in Iraqi Kurdistan to prevent them from launching an assault on its western borders, amid reports that such an attack was coming or had even begun.

Trump also signaled confidence that the major shipping route near Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, will remain open.

“They have no navy, you know the navy is now at the bottom of the sea,” he said. “I’m watching Hormuz very closely.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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