US may have ‘gone too far’ in killing Iranian leaders: Trump

US President Donald Trump and Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. (Photos via AP)

President Trump said Iran’s successive leadership losses have made it difficult to determine who runs the country.

President Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. strikes targeting senior Iranian leaders at the start of Operation Epic Fury have made it extremely difficult for Washington to determine who is actually in charge in the Islamic Republic, complicating efforts to negotiate an agreement to end the war.

Speaking at a Republican event in Ohio, Trump said Iran’s leadership structure remained unclear following the killing of senior figures in the opening strikes.

“We might have gone too far with [assasinating] the leaders because we don’t know who the hell we’re dealing with anymore,” Trump told the crowd at the rally.

“Nobody wants to be the president of Iran,” he added.

Trump made similar comments last Tuesday, saying that the loss of successive tiers of Iranian leadership had left Washington unsure who was directing the country.

“Their leaders are gone, their second group of leaders are gone, and the biggest problem ​I have is nobody knows who the hell is running ​the country,” Trump said.

Vice President JD Vance also highlighted the uncertainty last week while discussing the difficulties facing negotiators attempting to reach an agreement with Tehran.

Referring to the ongoing talks, Vance said that “it’s not totally clear how their country makes decisions.”

The uncertainty follows the killing of longtime Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening strikes of the war. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has since been appointed as his successor, but his whereabouts and health status are unknown. Reports and speculation have circulated that he may no longer be physically present in Iran and that he may have been seriously wounded in the bombing that killed his father.

Some analysts have expressed skepticism about whether statements and decisions attributed publicly to Mojtaba are actually coming from him. The uncertainty has raised questions about whether Iranian officials involved in negotiations have the authority to make commitments on behalf of the country’s leadership.

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