US President Donald Trump told the "New York Times" that there are "three very good options" for who could take over the leadership of Iran after the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In the interview, Trump also said that the US intends to continue the attacks for "four or five weeks", if necessary, offering different scenarios for political changes in Tehran. Trump declined to name his options during the six-minute phone interview.
The United States is prepared to continue its military offensive against Iran for "four to five weeks" if necessary, acknowledging the possibility of additional American casualties, the US president said.
In a brief telephone interview with the "New York Times" newspaper, Trump said the Pentagon had enough resources to continue the operation "if necessary".
When asked how long the United States and Israel could maintain the current level of attacks, he replied: "Well, we planned for four to five weeks".
"It won't be difficult", Trump added. "We have a huge amount of ammunition. You know, we have ammunition stored all over the world in different countries."
Speaking from Mar-a-Lago approximately 36 hours into the conflict and shortly after receiving news of three American casualties, Trump said: "Three is three too many as far as I'm concerned. If you look at the projections, they're making projections, you know the number could be much higher than that."
"We expect casualties," he added.
During the roughly six-minute conversation, Trump outlined what he described as "three very good choices" for leadership in Iran, but declined to name them. He offered several possible visions for how power could be transferred to Tehran without committing to a single course of action.
Among the options he mentioned was an outcome similar to what he said he had achieved in Venezuela, where only former President Nicolas Maduro was removed in a US military operation, and much of the existing government structure remained in place but became more willing to work pragmatically with the United States.
Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s top national security official, Ali Larijani, said an interim committee would run the country until a successor to the supreme leader was chosen. Trump did not answer a question about whether he believed Larijani could lead Iran's government.
Trump said he hoped Iran's elite military forces, including officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, would give up their weapons.
Trump was warned that an attack on Iran was "high risk, high reward."
The president was briefed by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Kaine.
"They would really surrender to the people, if you think about it," he said.
Trump also said he did not believe Gulf Arab states should join the United States in striking Iran, even though Tehran has targeted many of them and Israel with retaliatory missiles and drones. attacks.
He expressed confidence that Iran would eventually surrender. "The country is significantly weakened, to put it mildly", he said.According to Trump, US and Israeli forces have already eliminated several Iranian military leaders, creating a power vacuum that Iranian authorities are trying to fill.
He said he would consider lifting sanctions on Iran if the new leadership showed a willingness to act as a pragmatic partner.
At the same time, Trump refused to specify whether and how the US would protect the Iranian people if they tried to overthrow the current government.