On Sunday, President Donald Trump declared that Iran’s forthcoming leader would not endure long without his endorsement.

These remarks were made roughly a week following the death of Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a targeted airstrike at his residence on February 28.

The operation, executed by Israel, capitalized on advanced intelligence cooperatively gathered by the United States and Israel over several months, resulting in the elimination of numerous high-ranking officials within the Iranian government.

During an ABC News interview, Trump stated that Iran’s choice for Khamenei’s successor would need the U.S.’s approval.

“If he doesn’t secure our approval, he won’t last long. We aim to ensure there isn’t a need to repeat this every decade when you don’t have a president willing to take such actions,” Trump expressed.

Reflecting on the United States’ historical interventions in Iran, Trump emphasized, “I don’t want future administrations to revisit this issue in five years or, even worse, face the threat of a nuclear Iran.”

ABC News asked Trump if he would consider approving a successor with ties to the old regime, similarly to the way he approved Delcy Rodríguez as the acting president of Venezuela after Nicolas Maduro’s capture. Rodríguez was Maduro’s vice president.

Trump replied: ‘I would, in order to choose a good leader I would, yeah, I would. There are numerous people that could qualify.’

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s next leader ‘is not going to last long’ without his approval

Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a targeted air strike at his compound on February 28

The ayatollah’s palace was destroyed in the US-Israeli military operation, which was made possible by months of intelligence gathering. Smoke is pictured rising from the compound 

The president went on to say that Iran was planning to take over the entire Middle East, and his administration’s actions have essentially stopped that from happening. 

Trump said that Iran is now ‘a paper tiger,’ before adding, ‘They weren’t a paper tiger a week ago, I’ll tell you. And they were going to attack.

‘Their plan was to attack the entire Middle East, to take over the entire Middle East.’

Those comments seem to be the Trump administration’s latest justification for the war, continuing the disjointed messaging from top officials in the US over the past few weeks. 

Trump’s threats against Iran heightened in January when the regime was killing protestors by the thousands. On Truth Social, the president wrote: ‘The United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.’

The president has also stated that ‘something had to be done’ about Iran’s network of terrorist groups, such as Hamas and the Houthis.

He has also said that Iran would have had a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks if the US had not attacked and that the country was on the verge of developing ballistic missiles with the capability to strike US soil.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Israel was going to take action, which ‘would precipitate an attack against American forces.’

The Trump administration has given disjointed justifications for attacking Iran. Fire and smoke is pictured rising from an oil depot in Tehran, Iran’s capital, on Sunday 

‘We knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after [Iran] before [Israel] launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,’ Rubio told reporters on March 2. 

That justification was widely criticized by people saying Trump allowed Israel to lead him to war. 

Trump’s statements on Monday morning extended to other actions the US may take against Iran in the coming days and weeks. 

The president told ABC News that special forces may be sent in to seize Iran’s enriched uranium, which is needed for the cores of nuclear weapons. 

‘Everything is on the table. Everything,’ Trump said. 

A senior administration official said last week that Iran has enriched enough uranium to create weapons-grade materials in ten days or less.

ABC News asked Trump if he had lost some resolve to keep the conflict going after meeting with the families of the six US soldiers who have died so far in the conflict. 

‘No, not at all,’ the president replied. 

‘The parents would be upset if I did that. The parents said to me, every one of them, please sir, win this for my boy, and in one case a young woman, as you know. Please, win this for my child.’

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.