Donald Trump has put the world on notice that he intends to personally shape who governs Iran next, dismissing the most likely candidate as a “lightweight” while endorsing the Kurdish military push into Iranian territory as a tool for finishing off the battered regime.

In remarks to Axios, Trump made clear that Mojtaba Khamenei — the 56-year-old son of the assassinated supreme leader who has spent years running his father’s office — was not a figure Washington could work with. He reached for Venezuela as his frame of reference, pointing to his direct role in installing Delcy Rodríguez as interim president there after Nicolás Maduro’s capture.

“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela,” he said. “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”

Rodríguez took the Venezuelan presidency after giving Trump assurances of close cooperation with the United States.

On the military front, Trump said he would be “all for” Kurdish forces pushing into western Iran to help bring the government down.

‘Too late to deal’

Any remaining hope of a negotiated exit from the conflict appeared to dissolve during Trump’s Thursday remarks. He acknowledged Tehran had reached out but showed no interest in slowing the campaign.

“We want to fight now more than they do. We’ve had 47 years of horror with this group,” he said. “I’m once again calling on all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the military and the police, to lay down their arms.”

Military operations, he said, were running “ahead of schedule.”

According to the Telegraph, Mojtaba Khamenei’s combination of family lineage and deep roots within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had made him the overwhelming favourite to step into his father’s role. Analysts had widely assumed his elevation would leave the guards’ grip on Iranian power intact — a prospect Trump’s comments appeared designed to prevent.

Tehran stalled on naming a replacement after Israeli warplanes obliterated the building where senior clerics had gathered to choose a successor. By Thursday, however, signals from within the Iranian political establishment suggested a decision was drawing close.

Mounting death toll

The human cost of the conflict continues to climb. Iran’s Red Crescent Society put the country’s death toll at a minimum of 1,230, a figure that includes 175 children and teachers killed when a primary school was hit on the opening day of fighting.

Lebanon has recorded 77 dead, its health ministry said.

Tens of thousands of people poured out of southern Beirut on Thursday after Israeli forces broadcast evacuation orders across the area.