Trump: Nobody knows who is running Iran

President Trump says Iran’s leadership chaos has complicated diplomatic efforts.

By World Israel News Staff

President Donald Trump said Washington no longer knows who is ultimately in charge of Iran after months of American and Israeli strikes decimated the Islamic Republic’s senior leadership, highlighting growing uncertainty over who has the authority to negotiate an end to the eight-month war.

Speaking Tuesday at an event at the Sparrows Point shipyard in Maryland, Trump said repeated strikes had eliminated successive layers of Iran’s political and military leadership.

“Their leaders are gone, their second group of leaders are gone,” Trump said, adding that “nobody knows who the hell is running the country.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” he added.

Trump’s comments came as Washington and Tehran remain locked in indirect negotiations aimed at ending the war that began on February 28, while US officials publicly acknowledge difficulty determining which Iranian officials can actually deliver on agreements reached at the negotiating table.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had ruled Iran as supreme leader since 1989, was killed on the first day of the war during a US-Israeli strike in Tehran.

His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was subsequently selected to succeed him but was injured in the same attack and has not appeared publicly since taking office.

A succession of senior Iranian military commanders and officials have also been killed during the fighting.

Trump portrayed the losses Tuesday as evidence that Iran’s ability to wage war had been severely degraded, claiming its air force, navy, radar network and air defenses had been largely destroyed.

“Their economy is in ruins,” he said, while crediting American forces with eliminating dozens of Iranian leaders.

US officials say the uncertainty surrounding Iran’s command structure has become a practical problem as Washington tries to negotiate a settlement.

Vice President JD Vance, who has played a major role in the negotiations, acknowledged the problem in an interview this week.

The United States is formally dealing with Iran’s political leadership, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Vance said, but Washington remains uncertain about where final authority lies.

“It’s not totally clear how their country makes decisions,” Vance said.

According to Vance, competing centers of power inside Iran appear to have complicated previous efforts to halt the fighting.

Washington believes some Iranian officials favor reaching a deal while other factions are attempting to prevent an agreement, raising doubts over whether commitments offered by Iranian negotiators will actually be implemented.

The issue surfaced after an earlier preliminary arrangement collapsed despite an apparent understanding between the two sides.

The agreement was intended to reduce hostilities around the Strait of Hormuz, ease elements of the American blockade and open broader negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

US officials say Iran nevertheless continued attacks on commercial shipping.

Vance suggested internal divisions may have played a role, saying there were Iranian officials who wanted an agreement as well as others “trying to sabotage a deal.”

Iran has strongly rejected Washington’s characterization of its government as leaderless or unable to make decisions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Sunday that the United States knows precisely which officials represent Tehran in negotiations.

“That claim has no basis,” Baghaei said. “You will not find any country as cohesive and orderly in decision-making as Iran.”

Iran says a six-member committee operating under the Supreme National Security Council is overseeing negotiations, with Araghchi among its members.

Baghaei instead accused Washington of creating confusion through changing demands and inconsistent public statements.

He said the real difficulty was the “contradictory positions and mixed messaging” coming from US officials.

The disagreement comes amid another attempt by mediators to bridge the gap between the two countries.

Qatar has been shuttling proposals between Washington and Tehran, with Iran recently submitting a seven-day plan that would eventually reopen the Strait of Hormuz if a series of US conditions were met.

Iran has made restoration of normal shipping through the waterway its immediate negotiating priority, while the Trump administration continues to insist that any lasting settlement must address Tehran’s nuclear program.

The United States is demanding that Iran sharply reduce its uranium-enrichment capabilities and provide guarantees that facilities destroyed during the war will not be rebuilt.

Vance said Iran’s continued possession of uranium enriched to 60% undermines Tehran’s repeated claim that it has no interest in producing nuclear weapons.

Washington would require “something meaningful” on enrichment before accepting a durable agreement, he said.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and has resisted US demands that it abandon domestic enrichment.

Trump has simultaneously kept open the prospect of renewed large-scale American attacks if diplomacy fails.

Last week, he rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal as insufficient and suggested major combat operations could resume after the November midterm elections.

US military forces have meanwhile continued to build up in and around the Middle East, maintaining pressure on Tehran as negotiations continue.

The war has already transformed Iran’s political and military hierarchy.

Beyond Khamenei’s death, repeated attacks have killed senior figures in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, military commanders and officials involved in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

Trump said Tuesday that Iran’s missile and drone manufacturing capacity had also been severely damaged and suggested the remaining infrastructure could soon be targeted.

“We know exactly where the rest of it is,” he said.

Iran has continued to retaliate through missile and drone attacks against Israel, US-linked targets and Gulf states hosting American forces, while Tehran-linked forces have targeted commercial shipping.

The post Trump: Nobody knows who is running Iran appeared first on World Israel News.