The Donald Trump administration has identified Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as a preferred candidate for the country’s Supreme Leader.
Politico, as quoted by the Guardian UK, reports that US is quietly weighing Ghalibaf, as a potential partner, and even a future leader.
“He’s a hot option,” one administration official told Politico, adding: “He’s one of the highest…but we got to test them, and we can’t rush into it.”
According to the report, some officials in the White House see Ghalibaf as a workable partner who could lead Iran and negotiate with the Trump administration in the war’s next phase.
Meanwhile, Ghalibaf denied any negotiations with the US in a post on Monday, but administration officials who spoke with Politico dismissed his comments as internal posturing.
“We’re in the testing phase of really trying to figure out who can rise, who wants to rise, who tries to rise,” the first official said.
He added, “And then as people rise, we’ll do a quick test, and if they’re radical, we’ll take them out.”
Trump disclosed on Monday that the US is progressing with talks with a respected Iranian leader.
He said the leader in question was not Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, but a top person in the government.