U.S. President Donald Trump has said Iran’s next Supreme Leader will not last long in office if he emerges without his approval. 

Amid speculations on who emerges as the new Iranian leader, a week after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed during joint U.S-Israeli attacks, Mr Trump said his approval would determine Iran’s new leader

He stated the new leader “is not going to last long” if the Iranians don’t get his approval before selecting the leader.

“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Mr Trump told ABC News. “If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long. We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it.”

Asked if he would approve a new leader with ties to slain Khamenei’s regime, Mr Trump said “I would, in order to choose a good leader I would, yeah, I would. There are numerous people that could qualify.”

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, on last Wednesday said whoever was appointed to succeed the late Mr Khamenei would be “an unequivocal target for elimination.”

Last Thursday, Mr Trump rejected the late Mr Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as possible leader of the Islamic Republic, insisting that he must be involved in selection of the next leader of Iran.