In the opening days of the Iran War, the United States and Israel were reportedly considering an unlikely choice as a potential new leader for Iran, according to The New York Times.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was viewed as a favorable choice to replace the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the NYT reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Ahmadinejad was injured when Israeli airstrikes intended to free him from house arrest failed, the outlet reported.
Ahmadinejad has been an ardent anti-U.S. critic, according to public statements that he made in the past.
He called called for “a world without America,” on Oct. 26, 2005, at a conference in Tehran titled The World without Zionism, according to a congressional resolution passed on Jan. 27, 2006.
“As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” Ahmadinejad said in reference to statements by Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini at the conference, Al Jazeera reported.
While Ahmadinejad was in office, his administration allowed the continued development of a nuclear program in Iran that predated his tenure, which covertly imported nuclear material and conducted over 110 experiments to produce uranium, according to the congressional resolution.
“From the outset, President Trump was clear about his goals for Operation Epic Fury: destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles, dismantle their production facilities, sink their navy, and weaken their proxies,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The United States Military met or exceeded all of its objectives, and now, our negotiators are working to make a deal that would end Iran’s nuclear capabilities for good.”
The Pentagon and Israeli Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘We Cannot Let Iran Have A Nuclear Weapon’
Some U.S. officials were skeptical of Ahmadinejad as a potential successor to Khamenei because of Ahmadinejad’s anti-American sentiment, according to the Times.
The Iran war has cost the U.S. about $25 billion, Jules W. Hurst III, the assistant secretary and chief financial officer of the Department of War, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
A 60% of U.S. adult citizens currently oppose the Iran war, according to a poll from the Economist and YouGov on Monday.
The U.S.-Israeli-led Iran War began on Feb. 28 and has caused a severe disruption in oil markets that is currently affecting energy prices across the world, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis.
When Reagan Reese, the Daily Caller White House correspondent, asked Trump if he thinks about the concerns of Americans, he said that he only cares about Iran’s nuclear program.
“The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said on May 12. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”
Trump tells @reaganreese_ that he is not considering Americans’ financial situation when negotiating with Iran.
“The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they cannot have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about… pic.twitter.com/X1Py8eqtOs
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 12, 2026
Trump tells Trump discussed the topic of Iran’s nuclear program with China with Xi Jinping during the U.S.-China summit on May 14, the White House told the DCNF.
“Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” a White House official told the DCNF. “President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use, and he expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait in the future.”
Ahmadinejad’s leg was injured in the Israeli airstrikes, but his condition is stable, Iranian news outlet Khabar Online News Agency reported, citing Ahmadinejad’s former adviser Abbas Amirifar.
Ahmadinejad has not been seen, and his whereabouts are unknown since the Israeli airstrikes took place, according to the Times.
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